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§ 547 Responses to Mixed Bag of Q&A

Hello Barbara,
I just stumbled on your site and love it! What a huge help to me your article is on picking a house color. I wonder if you have any suggestions for my house.
We are in the process of painting, adding a larger, roofed area on our back deck, and re-roofing to a standard metal roof.
I am thinking of going with a deeper taupe color for the main part of the home, white trim, and a red front-door.
My husband is concerned that painting all of the trim white will clutter the house. Right now we only have white trim on the front porch posts and eves. I have always thought not having the windows, and side trim pieces painted looks incomplete.
I hope the above to photos will work.
Thanks,
Marcella

I didn’t see your photos, but from your description I would go with the deeper taupe and the white trim. It shouldn’t look busy — we paint trim white all the time. It should look crisp and pulled together. And the red door will jazz it up.

Dear Barbara,
So happy to find this site! We’re desperate for some advice. We have a brick colonial with dark brown roof, shutters, front double door, screen door & gutters all chocolate brown. The window & door trim is beige/cream. We’d like to paint the shutters black and the front door red. But what to do with the gutters and storm door? We are really stumped with the detached garage that is cream wood siding with chocolate doors and gutters and dark brown roof. I’d love to hear your opinion. Thank you!
Leslie

The best way to decide this is to go to the front walk and stare at your house for a few minutes. If the gutters are dark enough to blend in with the house and roof, then I would leave them brown. If they stand out too much, you can paint them a dark brick red to blend in with the house.

As for the storm door, they’re a decorator’s nightmare. You usually can’t see the front door very well through the screen door so the screen door becomes the focal point. Ideally the screen door will be the same color as the front door and a full-view style. Or you can keep the storm door the same color as your door trim. That way it will go away (somewhat) and the door color should show through.

What about black shutters and a black front door? They would make your red brick stand out. It’s really hard to get a perfect red to go with the brick. Then you could consider a brown garage with a black garage door. (Brick houses and garages get special consideration. Especially when they’re detached.) Painting the garage a dark color will make it stand out less. It is, afterall, a garage.

I too just stumbled on your site — how kind of you to share your expertise! I’d love to get your opinion on a house we just bought. I’ve e-mailed you a picture separately. It’s a 1957 brick house done in that “old brick” look with various hues and an overall orangey tone. The right side of the house is bricked half-way up, and the siding above that currently is painted a barn (or brick?) red, and the front door is white. The eaves are newly painted white, and we’d like to leave those, but I’d like to repaint the red siding a more attractive color and would like the front door to be an accent. Also, if you can see from the photo, the front entry has white wrought-iron type trim, and I was wondering if that should be left white or painted black. Unfortunately, there’s a white downspout attached to the front, so the view of the ironwork is obscured. There’s a matching white wrought-iron bench on the porch, which is paved with broken dark red tile in a mosaic look. New white-framed windows are on order, and the roof is gray.

We are planning on remodeling the interior of the house and then putting it back on the market, and I’d like to increase the curb appeal to attract buyers (all the overgrown shrubbery is definitely going).

Yep, I got a message that the e-mail wasn’t going through. So I finally figured out how to upload and here’s the link to the photo:

There’s not a lot of wrought iron at the entry — there’s a support column (with the awful downspout attached) and then some trim pieces up at the roofline in the corners.

I thought about adding shutters, but (and you can’t see this in the photo because of the tree) the window on the right, in a room converted from a carport, extends all the way to the very edge of the house, behind the tree in the photo, so there’s no room for a shutter on the far right.

I was thinking about painting the siding gray, or a gray-green or gray-blue, but I see now that that would fly in the face of your advice on brick houses, and that the barn red color it is now really would seem to adhere more closely to your guidelines. (And then there’s the big blue house next door — hmm…) Maybe a taupe? There’s got to be a taupe in all that brick.

This is our first foray into flipping so it’s rather, um, shall I say exciting? Yes, exciting will work. Or nerve-wracking, take your pick! Well, my nerves are a little wracked, but my husband exudes confidence. And, we’re having fun doing it.

Sorry for the delay. I would suggest going from the red to a more earthy color like a brown pulled out of the brick. It’s hard to see exactly what shade that might be, but I would stick with a color in the brick. Painting the siding a coordinating color like blue, gray, or green just accentuates the brick and makes the house look smaller. You want the brick to add texture.

I was reading your website and was wondering if you could help us with choosing colours. We’ve posted a picture on our Blog spot at http://www.craigw13.blogspot.com/ for your reference.

Our house is half brick, half siding. The siding is a light beige and the brick is a dark red. Our bannister and railing are a red-brown colour with wrought iron bars. Originally, we intended to paint the bannister and railing to our match fence but I believe it stands out too much. Our garage door and front door are a chocolate brown. In reading your comments, I agree that the two should not match.

We were thinking of painting the bannister, railing and garage door a slightly darker beige than the siding (th wrought iron bars would remain black). I really like your idea of the black door. Presently, our mailbox and lights are painted black. I was just wondering if we were on the right track, do you agree with our colour suggestions? Also, in the future we will be adding shutters to the secondary storey windows, what colour would you suggest for these. Finally, the white trim around the garage door, front door and main floor windows – would you agree with our ideas or do you have any other suggestions?

I reread your other note about the wrought iron over the entryway. I had missed that before. I would go ahead and leave it white unless you plan to paint all the trim a different color (say, cream?). As for the door, it’s pretty dark on the porch so I would keep the door light. But you don’t need a white door. I would pick another color from the brick, maybe a taupe or one of the other warm colors and go with that. I think the house will look great when all the colors blend together a bit more.

Since you’re painting anyway, I suggest you go with a darker taupe for both the siding and the garage door. Then you can stick with the white trim and add a shiny black front door. I would also suggest black shutters. That combination should look really nice and a little different from your neighbor’s house.

I would paint the railing two shades darker than the siding. That will blend the black wrought iron but not make the porch stand out quite so much.

Barbara,
I just finished scrapping wallpaper off, cleaning paste, then texturing my basement walls. I am now ready for paint.
We have a cherry chair rail around the entire room with built in bookshelfs and ET center.
I would like to consider a copper metallic wash on the bottom portion of the walls, with a lighter color on top. Do you have any ideas for colors for me?
I am struggling for a color for the top portion of the chair rail.
I’d appreciate any ideas.
Cami

Wow, that’s a lot of work. Good for you! The thing about metallic washes is that you don’t want to compete with them. You want the effect to be noticed. So I would choose something quite neutral for the top part of the wall, even a cream or a warm tan, a color that would allow the cherry chair rail and the copper wash to be featured. Then you can pull some color up above the chair rail with art.

I’m so happy that I stumbled upon this site, as we are in the process of repainting the outside of our home.

It is a colonial with a farmer’s porch. We are painting the body a medium taupe with the trim off-white. I have a few questions.

We have a big lattice under the farmer’s porch in front of the house. We are thinking of painting the lattice portion the same color as the body (the medium taupe), and the trim of the lattice the same as the house trim (the off-white). Is this a good idea?

We are having a tough time deciding on shutter and door color. We are leaning towards maroon/burgundy for both. Any suggestions?

My husband is leaning towards painting the garage doors the trim color, and not the house color – is this a bad idea?

Great color choices. I would definitely paint the lattice taupe with the white trim as you suggested. Great idea as it will blend the lattice in with the house and hide it a little. I like the burgundy idea for the shutters and door. Very traditional but it will look terrific. Another idea is to go with black shutters and a burgundy door. A little less color but very sophisticated. Works great if you have a grey/black roof.

As for the garage doors, I prefer to see them the same as the house color with white trim. That way they don’t chop up the house so much and they make the house appear larger. And who needs to highlight the garage doors…

Thanks for replying so quickly! The color for the shutters/door is called “marooned”. I know I said Burgundy, thinking that was the same thing, do you think it is (maybe Burgundy has more purple in it)? We were kind of torn between that a color that was sort of plum/brown, although that color is somewhat duller than the marooned.

So you say it is more modern to have black shutters and a maroon door? My husband had suggested black for the shutters, but I wasn’t so sure. I can’t remember off the top of my head the color of the roof (I never really paid attention to it), but I’m pretty sure it’s black.

I also had one other question about the roof of the farmer’s porch. The painter was suggesting body color, but we thought it would darken the porch, so we opted for the off-white trim color – is that a good choice? The porch railings and columns are all trim color (off-white), and the floor is going to be stained the natural color of the wood.

I think I like the plum brown for the door but honestly, it could be almost anything if you go with black shutters and the taupe body color. Black shutters are not more modern, but I think they’re classier looking than colored shutters although it’s really a matter of taste. Here in New England the older homes have black shutters and I think they look spectacular.

And yes, I would use the trim color for the porch ceiling. That’s fine.

I would save the door decision until the body of the house is painted and the shutters are up. Then you’ll be able to zero ino on the perfect door color.

Hi Barbara:
I just happened upon your website. I loved reading all your ideas about color!!! I love color and have incorporated many colors in my home. But, one of the most important things to me is that they all go together, or “flow” as you put it.
My new decorating road block is my master bedroom. We installed a beautiful cherry floor with matching doors on the second floor of our house. We put carpet in all the of the bedrooms but not in our master bedroom. We have four large windows that face the south so there is alot of natural light. The trim is painted white throughout the house and the main color in the common areas of the house is Pratt Lambert “Light Coffee”. What color should I paint my master bedroom? The cherry floor looks red/orange/brown, depending on where I stand and what time of day it is. I hired a decorator, she suggested purple. Needless to say that color is not working for me or my husband. Any suggestions would be great.

If you have bedding that you love, you can pull a color out of that. And if you’re planning to buy new bedding, you should find that first so you can pull a wall color from it. But if you’re going with white or just want some ideas for the wall color, try these. Each would look beautiful with the cherry floor and go well with your Light Coffee.

I just came upon your website, and I love it. I am having a problem choosing an exterior color for a cottage-style house with a grey roof with red flecks. Overall, the roof looks PINK, and the current color on it’s stucco walls is a beigy-tan color, with white trim. I’m so torn on what to paint it with it’s awful roof color. Do I have to go gray? Also, what would you suggest as a trim color???

I’m in a quandry! We have a 1970’s split-foyer home that I desperately don’t love but can’t afford to leave. We need to finish the deck, but I don’t know what color of semi-transparent stain would look best. We have some contraints: The house has white aluminum siding with black shutters, we have a small shed removed from the house that is “Phillipsburg blue” with white trim, we have a blue and white above-ground pool that connects to the deck. In the past the deck was stained a semi-transparent cedar color, and we also have a cedar swing on the deck. Our table, umbrella & shade for the swing are all green, and we’re not in a position to change that right now. I’ve always wondered if there would be a color that would be better than cedar to make our particular color combinations “work”. I greatly appreciate any help you can give!

I would go with grey. It’s the most logical for a white house with black shutters, blue shed, and white trim. The table, umbrella, and swing shade are green but that won’t matter. The grey goes with everything and would be the least conspicuous.

I think I responded on another blog entry but I’ll do it here too. Yes, gray would make the most sense with the “pink” roof. I think you’ll really love it even if you’re not fond of gray. It’s a stunning combination and with the proper plantings (pink) and bright white trim, your house will look spectacular.

Hello, Barbara – we need your advice on painting the porch rails on our house. It’s a modest 1-level ranch house with a large front porch across most of the front of the house. It was originally a cedar-sided house, painted dark brown, and it has a dark reddish-brown roof. Door, windows and shutters are cream. The porch posts and rails are a ranch style in an X pattern and they are also dark brown. The gutters, which are fairly new, are dark brown. The house sits on a lot that is level at the front but slopes to the back, and the crawl-space concrete is painted dark brown, which we need to keep as we live in a red-mud part of the country.

We recently re-sided the house with Hardie plank, and bought Sherwin Williams Emerging Taupe paint. (It’s a dark taupe – not nearly as pink as it looks on their web site!) We will paint the doors, windows and shutters creamy white. The question is the porch rails. We planned to keep all the fascia boards dark brown, to tie in the dark gutters and the roof. Across the front of the porch there is a trim board about a foot deep that steps down from the fascia to the porch ceiling.

Should we keep that trim board and the porch ceiling dark brown, and paint the posts and rails dark brown to tie it all in?

Or should we paint the trim board and porch ceiling the taupe house color, and the porch posts and rails creamy white? We are not sure how to make the transition from the dark roof, fascia and gutters.

Or maybe there is a solution we haven’t thought of yet. We would appreciate your advice. Thanks so much!

You could probably do either one depending on what you want to accent. The dark brown gutters will be less noticeable if you paint the porch brown as well. But the porch will be the dominant feature of your house. If you paint the porch white, it will blend in with the house more because the shutters and other trim are white. (I would keep the trim board and porch ceiling the taupe house color regardless.)

If by painting the porch white, all you’ll notice will be the brown gutters, then paint the porch brown. But if the gutters are not that noticeable, then go with the creamy white for the porch.

I like blue-gray with white trim so I would keep the trim and soffetts white. Personally, as you may have read on my blog, I like to paint the garage doors the house color, blue-gray in your case, as it makes the house seem bigger and more pulled together visually. White is the easy way out.

As far as painting the doors, just make sure you really clean the doors first. They can give you specific directions in the paint store for what product to use. Other than that, it’s just latex paint. (Aluminum areas that are not yet painted need a really good primer.)

As for the roof color, I would get something that has gray in it if you’re going with the architectural variegated roof style. Otherwise, dark gray or black would be fine for your house.

Help! We have a patio home on the sound. What was originally all dark brown (fishing huts) have now been painted colors. Unfortunately, the homeowners association has allowed everyone to choice their own colors from the Sherwin Williams Duration Paint Selections . Our house is the last to be painted. We have a light powder blue and a peach color (stronger intensity) beside us. Across the street is a strong lime with yellow and turquoise at each angle! We are considering a gray that would have the feel of cedar shake with a florida pink ( or some accent color with excitement), another consideration is a taupe color…… we feel we have little options. any advise? We want to blend not stand out- but have some coastal feel.

What a rainbow! I think a light warm gray would look terrific sandwiched between the powder blue and the peach. Especially if you’re trying to keep your house a little more low key. But a flamingo pink door would fit right into the neighborhood. Actually, I kind of like the multicolored look. It’s cheerful!

Barbara,
I am so hoping you can help me! I am painting the trim and wood shingles (in the peak) of my house. As you can see from the picture (link provided) the brick is a tan/brownish with a little red in it. The house is currently a creamy yellow and dark brown. I need to keep the creamy color (though not quite as yellow) as I just put in new windows with vinyl trim in this color.
What color should I paint the brown shingles? Stick with brown?? A mossy green?? Please help!

I would like to ask your advice about my white painted brick cape cod style house. It has black shutters. I am debating what type of door and the color to paint it in addition to the steps. I want to keep with cottage style. Thanks

Well, you have a blank slate. You can paint your front door virtually anything and it will look good. But here are some guidelines.

I would go for a warm color as the white and black are stark. Do you have any flowering shrubs as foundation plantings? If so, you can take a color from them. Maybe it’s a dark raspberry rhododendron or azalea. Or do you have a flowering tree from which to pull a color? Make sure you choose a color that goes with whatever other color you have in your yard because everything else is black and white.

If you have no flowering shrubs, you might try a dark red for your door. If that’s too traditional, you could move toward the orange side. Either one will look sensational.

I just dug your email out of my spam file. It went there by mistake. My apologies for the late response.

The photo makes it look like the shingles are already a mossy green instead of brown. May be my monitor. But I like it. I think that would be nice. I do also like the idea of a rich chocolate brown, but if you already have that (despite what shows up in the photo) then why not try something new.

Like your site very much. Helpful to hear similar thoughts and schemes being discussed.

I currently have a small 2 bedroom home with beige siding. Shutters now are brown with a light mauve front door (yes…I know).

I wanted to paint the shutters black. and the front door…? Originally was set on shiny black, but then, due to smaller scale of front elevation of home, I wondered if the black shutters and black door would be too much. Would it be better to go with a… red front door… with dark bronze/black door hardware???

Dear Barbara-
I am thrilled with this site. I am specifically curious about putting a metal roof on a brick colonial style Cambridge Mass house. You mentioned a successful metal roof on a brick house in Cambridge that is purple. I would LOVE to be able to see this house? Can you advise?I also am interested in your opinion of using a metal roof on our red brick house as part of a renovation?
Thank you very much!
Phebe Kiryk

Check out the house — I think it’s on Fresh Pond Parkway just past the rotary toward Boston. It’s on the left. The door is purple too as I recall. Wonder if it’s still there — haven’t been by there in quite some time. But I loved the house and it looked great.

In Cambridge you can get away with unconventional house solutions. People appreciate color and unique design ideas.
It kind of depends on your neighborhood whether a metal roof will work or not. Let me know if you’d like me to come in and have a look.

I have a question for paper illusions wallpaper. I papered my dining room ceiling with the terra cotta colored paper. Now I want to glaze over the paper. Do I need to add a little color to the glaze and if so, what color do I add? Do I do a raw umber or use a color from the wallpaper?

It depends on the final look you want. Raw umber will give you an aged look that will be great over the terra cotta. I would check with your local paint store because there may be a low sheen varnish that you can put over the paper, at least to smooth it out first before glazing. But in terms of color, I like the idea of aging the paper so it has some character.

I am in need of some serious help! I recently ordered plantation shutters for every window in my entire home. When they arrived and were installed I realized I had chosen the wrong color! I chose what is called Pearl and my base boards, doors and other trim is more of a white color than pearl.

When I ordered the shutters the designer and I placed a sample of the pearl color against my baseboards and it looked great. Now on a large scale I disklike it! I really do not want to resort to painting all my base baords, trim & doors, however I am open to repainting my walls.

Oops. I hate it when that happens. I hope your designer can actually get you out of this — I wouldn’t hesitate to call him or her back and ask for advice.

Ideally, of course, the shutters should match the trim. Without seeing the situation, it’s a little hard to advise you. Except to say that I don’t think wall color is going to change your dislike for the shutters. Ultimately, the trim will need to be painted. But don’t panic. I would start with the most public rooms and just do a little bit at a time. You are probably the only one bothered by the subtle difference in color and I’m sure the shutters are a wonderful addition to your home.

We focus on new things in the room for a couple of days before they start to blend into the background. But call your designer back and say you’re not happy with the result. He or she should help you make things right, either financially or otherwise.

Happy New Year.What a great and helpful website. We recently purchased a ten year old brick and hardiplank house that is painted a grey-blue color with bronze/brown windows and soffits. The front door is black. We would like to change the house color scheme but we are concerned about what hues will coordinate with the brick and soffit colors. there is a house in an adjacent neighborhood painted Svelte Sage (SW 6164) which we really like. I have sent two pictures to give you an idea where we are currently.

You have a couple of options for your house color. You can certainly go with sage– green is the compliment to red so it will make the brick stand out. The only downside is that you have a ton of greenery around your house and not a whole lot of brick so your house might get kind of lost if it’s green.

The other option is to choose a color from your brick/grout. More of a neutral color (but not gray). That way the house will stand out against all the greenery and will blend nicely with the brick.

I have a red/orangish brick ranch where they have used a cream vinyl siding just on the top half in the front. It has a sage green front door and shutters.

We just stained the deck in the back an opaque colonial yellow. The color was there before and we thought it looked nice and it’s especially nice now that is bright.

I don’t like the colors in the front. I thought a paint change would be the most inexpensive route till we remodel the entire front of the house.

I really don’t want to paint the brick but would paint the siding, front door and shutters. Should it tie in the with the back of the house? There is also a lot white and glass since there is a sun room off the back connnected with the deck.

Also what color light fixtures would go well with the color choices you suggest.

Why not paint the front vinyl the same colonial yellow. I assume it already goes well with your brick since you’re using it in the back of the house, and keeping the same color scheme all around will just pull the house together.

As for shutters, I’m a big fan of black shutters because they really dress up the house. (I live in New England and black is pretty standard around here with older homes.) Also that way you can use wrought iron light fixtures. White trim is okay if your windows are white. Especially if you continue with the colonial yellow. Just not TOO white.

We are building a simple ranch with front porch that is the entire length of house and hip roof. Our siding ,roof and trim are complete. We went with Crane Siding, Regatta blue siding and Bone trim.My windows are tan/clay. The roof is onyx black. Now that it is all done, the dark blue and black roof are a big contrast! Would shutters in black or a dark blue (darker than the Regatta) help to transition to the very dark roof. Or should the shutters be bone/cream? The siding color looks different when your entire house is done in it.The roof is dimensional with grays but you cannot notice the gray at all, as the house sits back so far from the road. Right now I am frustrated with the coloring. I also have a front porch with columns that will be wrapped in vinyl, I was just going to go with bone to match the trim? Any ideas on reducing the contrast , shutter color or front door color would be much appreciated!!

I think you’re going through that initial shock of seeing the whole thing done and having it look so different from what you had imagined. I couldn’t find the exact color of Regatta blue on-line but from your description, it’s dark.

I think it’s going to be fine. My suggestion is to go with the black shutters and then do the porch in the trim color. The porch will really stand out, and that’s what you want.

But before you do all the shutters in black, go pick up a couple of ready-made black shutters from your local home improvement store andhave somebody hold them up to the house. Stand back or go out to the road and have a look back. I think they will pull the house together for you.

In New England we see LOTS of dark houses with black roofs and shutters. There’s a dark blue house right on the main street.

Don’t forget that the front porch and front door make up the focal point of your home. Make sure they are warm and inviting-looking. Then you’ll be all set.

I must decide on an aluminum clad window color, very soon. As I do not have a clear vision for the exterior, I am very glad I just found your site!

The house is a farm house in a rural area, right on the road, buffered on that side by huge tall wide dark green yew bushes.

I have the option to order the windows one color, with an applied brickmould a second color.

The givens are:
Roof- living copper brown.

The house-stucco- to be chosen: a natural white or creamy buff.

The addition- vertical wood siding re painted: ???

The windows: ???

The trim (if any on the stucco portion): ???

No shutters will be on the house anymore.

The windows will be plain 1 over 1 double hung, short wide porportions.

What I know I like:

A) The origianl farm house; white with green trim (had shutters) (was a red roof).
B) The dark beauty of all natural building materials and fine craftsmanship.
C) color in general
D) The RED swatch from the Loewen window manufactuer. (I WANT red simulated divided light. DH says no to that extra cost. Alas.
E) I am liking (the yellow side) of greens right now, from ivy (trim?) to moss (addition?).

Uncounciled, I’m inclined to go with white windows, white trim, white stucco, white paint on addition. I feel paralized by too much choice. If I go this white route, the front door and porch posts could be left to darken (pick up on the dark roof) as oiled wood, or, colored. Color could also be used on a bench at the entry, flower pots etc.

I like the idea of creamy buff stucco with a stained natural wood addition and dark green windows and trim everywhere. The look is very natural and a bit rustic and would look great in your rural setting. I would then go with the stained natural wood posts on the porch and a natural wood door (if the budget allows).

I would reserve the red for accents: flowers, pots, benches, etc. and make sure it’s a rusty red or it will look too Christmasy.

Thank you for your website, you have such practical advice – something rare in decorating websites I’ve seen thus far.

My dilemma is this – in my sunroom I have a sofa and a chair and a half in butternut corduroy (wide wale), the floor is medium to light maple. I would like to incorporate gentle gray and chocolate brown into the room (if you think that would work). Should I paint the walls grey or paint them brown? And what if anything should I do to the currently white gas fireplace surround and mantle? Also in the room I have some very nice lucite lamps with chocolate brown lampshades – which I just adore.

Your sunroom color palette is shaping up nicely. I would go with the gentle gray on the walls — it’s a very relaxing color and will work well even when it’s hot in the room. And the butternut color and dark brown accents like the lampshades will pop off the gray walls beautifully. Your white fireplace surround will look terrific with the gentle gray walls. Just use white trim around the windows and you’ll tie the whole room together.

My wife and I are building a new home, in which we are trying to incorporate some rustic looks to it. It is a cape cod style home with two dormers on teh front second level, and the garage is side/rear loaded so it appears as part of the house in the front with a 12:12 roof. We are going to use vinyl siding and have stone along the base of the garage and breezeway, as well as the base of the posts on the front porch. We like darker and different colors for the house and were thinking of an olive green. One question we have is the main color (olive green, barn red, a steel blue), and the other is whether or not we go with an offsetting color for the shake gables on the dormer and the garage. We have thought about a buckskin (tan like), or a different green color (cypress). Any thoughts? Our windows and trim are white.

I love the idea of two different greens for the main color and shake gables. The tan would work too. But I love olive green for your style of home especially since you’ve incorporated stone bases for the posts on the front porch. I would use the barn red as an accent color for accessories (a chair or bench, etc.). The white trim will be perfect.

Hi Barbara,
I just found your Web site today and it is so full of great information. I’m hoping you can give my husband and I some advice for painting the exterior of our house. Our house was built in 1982 and I’ve heard it described as ‘contemporary traditional.’ It is a two story tan/peachy stucco home with casement windows that have dark brown trim and a brown roof with a taupe-ish trim and gutters. We are planning to replace the roof and gutters and paint the exterior, and want to take the opportunity to change the whole color palette and hopefully the feel of the house. We’d like to warm up the house a bit, make it less severe looking and add some color. The house is situated in a mature development on a cul-de-sac with great trees and landscaping and our neighbors have houses built at the same time but in different styles. They have all painted their homes over the years and really kept them up beautifully (we recently bought our fixer-upper).
I am inclined to add shutters to soften the look but I’m not sure if it would look right with casement windows. Also I’ve been told by painters that we shouldn’t paint the dark brown casement windows white or cream as they will chip easily, so we should choose a darker neutral for the trim. I’m also wondering if we should try to add an architectural detail somewhere to break up the front, especially since the front door is located on the side of the house (off the porch on the left). And I’d like to make the porch column bigger so it’s more proportionate to the house and sets off the porch, and do something with the landscaping. We’re really having a tough time picking the whole color scheme and feel somewhat overwhelmed. We’d like a look that is warm, inviting and not too formal or too casual. I will (hopefully if I can figure this out) send over a photo of the front exterior so you can see for yourself. Any advice you have would be very welcome.
Allison

You have a terrific house! All you need is some embellishments. I think your house looks very European so
I suggest leaving the brown window trim and roof color and punching up the house color to a warm French country creamy yellow or other warm Mediterranean color. Then you can add brown board and batten shutters (but they’re not necessary).

You might consider adding nice bronze French window boxes to the front and maybe even a couple more bronze light fixtures on either side of the bottom front window — to fill that space a little and add some light along the path to the front door.

As for landscaping, I would make the shrubs along the front symmetrical around the front window — perhaps a large shrub on either side of the window and very low plantings underneath the window. It’s such a focal point.

Then I would widen the path to the driveway and meander it through mulched gardens on both sides to help people find the front door. That’s where you can add lots of rich color.

You can have tons of fun making this house the best on the cul-de-sac. Enjoy!

I just stumbled across your website as I was searching for some ideas.

My husband and I are moving into my parents’ house (a mother/daughter) in the main house which has a wonderfully large kitchen done with white formica cabinets and white tiled floors. There is a sliding door, large eat-in area (which has a rectangular table for 8 comfortably). Brightness isn’t an issue. I want to incorporate some of my existing black furniture and rich red accents and am considering painting the far wall (near the table) red while painting the rest of the kitchen a warm buttery yellow.

Do I paint the ceiling? All walls are currently white – and while I’m trying to tone down the white, I don’t want it to look stark when i add the new colors.

In your case, since your cabinets are white and the floor is white, I would leave the ceiling white too. It should add a crispness to the brightly colored walls. If the ceiling is really high and you want to bring it down visually or if it really sticks out, then go ahead and paint the ceiling, but if it’s a standard height, I would keep it white since you’re adding tons of color to the room.

Hi Barbara,
Thanks so much for your great ideas and kind words about our house! I love the idea of a French country creamy yellow for the house. And I think we’re on the same page because I was considering the board and batten shutters, too. Do you think it’s OK to use the vinyl kind and not the real stained wood kind? That way I could order the same dark brown that would with the window trim. What’s more European style – open or closed weave shutters? And one more question for you – what color do you think would work for the trim, gutters and garage door (if we go with the yellow house and dark brown window trim, shutters and roof)? Thanks again, I’ve really enjoyed reading through all of your advice on your Web site and very much appreciate your insight.
Allison

I was interested in your opinion for a new home we are buying. Sorry, I don’t have a picture to send. It is a two story brick colonial built in the late 1970’s. The brick is a lighter washed out red – not bright red. The roof and gutters are a medium brown. The front door is a dusty rose color (almost slighty orangey in tone possibly due to age). We have a brick detached garage with the garage doors displayed in the front. The roof for the garage is the same as the house and the garage doors are white. We are keeping the roof for now. So, what color(s) would you recommend for the front door, garage doors and possible shutters we would like to add? Nothing we have considered seems to make it look classy enough and tie it all together with the roof color.

I was online looking for information on colors for fencing when I came across your blog. You have some very helpful information here but I didn’t find the answer to the specific question that I have.

We live in the South – northern AL – and have a new brick home. Our home is a unique color of brick that is not very readily available. It is kind of an orangey red color – think AL clay – but it has quite a bit of a dark brown accent mixed in. The grout is a tan color and the eaves and raingutters are the same tan color. Our front door and shutters are Hunter Green.

We have recently had a wooden privacy fence erected in the back and are looking at stain colors. My husband thought that we should try to match the reddish color of the brick. I’m afraid that will be too much red and suggested that we use a brown color stain that will bring out the brown accents in the brick.

They’re making very convincing vinyl board and batten shutters these days (closed weave) so I would check them out first. Much less maintenance, as you know, but if you’re a purist, you’ll want wood.

I would do the trim in a medium brown. What you’re going for is a French country cottage look (at least that’s what I see when I look at your house). I think that would be great. You can see loads of examples online by googling images.

Have you tried the actualy roof color for your shutters, front door, and garage doors? It’s usually a fail-safe way to coordinate and I think it would look terrific. You might want to go to a rich dark chocolate on the doors if the roof looks a bit faded.

Hi Barbara,
We will be putting our house on the market in a few months so I’m trying to stick with neutral colors. I have a very small half bath that needs to be painted. It adjoins a hallway leading to the kitchen, both of which are painted Benjamin Moore “Flowering Herbs.” I tried painting the bathroom BM Limestone (513), which is one shade lighter than Flowering Herbs. It really looks like an anemic greyish color which doesn’t seem to flow with the hallway color “Flowering Herbs.” There is one tiny window in the bathroom so it gets very little natural light.

Any suggestion as to a color I could do the bathroom? I’ll be replacing the flooring in hallway and bath so that’s not a consideration.

I desperately need help in picking out a color for my dark terracota colored brick home. The entire house is brick except for the trim and the front porch and garage door. We have a bay window by our front door. The roof is a hip roof browns. We have rails and a post on the porch in front of the bay window. Only one set of shutters on one window on the front of the house (not the bay windows).

You might try either papaya (957) or ocean beach (958) for a nice neutral in a dimly lit area. Those colors are big for staging homes to sell. People respond well to them. Then use crisp white towels and some green accessories (or a plant) to tie in with the hallway.

You didn’t mention your trim color, but try cream for trim and siding. Then you can use a dark chocolate brown for garage door and maybe front door if it’s not too dark on the porch. Sticking with a nice light neutral for trim and going with a brown for the accent color will highlight your terracotta brick, which I happen to think is really pretty. Now that’s a traditional look.

If you want to venture into the wild and crazy, you can replace the brown with a dark eggplant for the garage and front door. If you only have one set of shutters, I would just leave them off.

We have a 100 year-old house in the North East US. The house is Victorian, but much of the good detail on the outside of the house was lost when they put up Aluminum siding (gasp!) on the house ~30 years ago. Unfortunately, after doing some insulation work, we found that the wood underneath isn’t ‘salvageable’, and we don’t have the budget to re-side, so we are looking to paint the house.

We are stuck on what color to paint the house and would appreciate any help. Here is our situation:
House is currently a wonderful ‘faded aluminum white’… and there are mostly new windows have white aluminum trim
There are some dark green accents (patio trim, front door, etc) on the house, and the roof is slate — a weathered greenish, gray color of slate.

That said, we are trying to determine what colors to use on the outside. Do you have any recommendations for the body of the house, if we are confined to the white trim and the slate roof color? Any suggestions on what would complement that? We’ve tried to figure this out, but we are at a bit of a loss.

You might try a grey green like Ben Moore’s misted green (2138-50) that would look greay with your roof and white trim. You might have to tweak the dark green accents — actually a really dark plum, like Shadow 2117-30, would be a great accent color.

Hi Barbara,
I have a question about colors for kitchen counter tops. We’re selling our home – it’s cottage style – don’t want to spend too much, so will probably stick with formica. Our kitchen floor is fir, cabinets are white with satin nickel handles, the walls are B M flowering herbs. I wanted to do black counter tops (formica that looks a bit like granite) but now I’m getting afraid that there will be too much contrast. Any suggestions as to whether I should go with something more white, beige, butcher block, or whatever color you think?? You really have good suggestions. Thanks so much.

Hi Barbara,
I want to correct something I stated in my previous message regarding kitchen counter top colors (77). The black formica I was considering looks more like slate. It’s called Basalt Slate, I think. It’s not shiny like granite.
Thanks Again.

I like the idea of the dark countertops and the white cabinets. Especially if you’re using formica, I think the dark colors look better than the lighter colors. Everybody’s getting used to dark granite so you don’t have to worry about contrast anymore. Sounds really nice.

I have a split-level house. The siding is light gray and the trim is white. The shutters and front door are maroon. I would like to change the color of the shutters and front door but my roof has maroon and black in it. Any suggestions?

I suggest going with black shutters which will look great with the gray siding and white trim. Then you can tweak the front door color a bit. Since the roof has maroon in it, I would stay on the pink side of red (as opposed to the orange side) and maybe go a little more rose. Something fresh and springy without going too bubblegum (you don’t want that). But a nice dark rose would be very nice with the gray and make for a bright cheerful entryway. Don’t forget to plant pink out front. All shades. No orange!

I would keep the brown shutters because they go perfectly with the roof although you can lighten them up to more of a cocoa color if that would help. Then I suggest painting the trim either taupe if you do taupe windows or white if you do white windows. Either way, the house will lighten up with just that trim color change from the brown.

Then you can really focus on your front door. Choose a nice warm rusty red or a mossy green and then use the antique bronze fixtures (knob and lights) for a perked up look.

What a great website!
I am having trouble with colors for our new house which is currently being painted . Hoping you can help.
We had decided on BM Barely Beige in main areas of the house which is all open concept and lots of light. This includes the hall, kitchen/eating/living/stairs areas. The kitchen cabinets are Ivory White with dark countertops, the island is espresso, and the hardwood floors are called copper birch. The bookcase is dark espresso and the couch set is a muted green. The trim is cloud white. The front entrance and powder room is Roxbury Caramel , and the den/study off the kitchen is chocolate fondue. What do you think of these color combos?
There are two coats on and I am not wowed. The roxbury caramel looks orange-y, the chocolate looks kind of cave-like and the bb looks just kind of off to me. The floors and cabinets are not in yet so it may be hard to tell properly. What do you think?

Your color choices sound fine. I would wait and see how they look with the cabinets and the floors. And as soon as you start putting furniture and artwork in the rooms, you’ll love the colors.

Barely beige is a nice safe neutral that should look great with the cloud white trim. I love Roxbury Caramel for the front hallway –very warm and inviting. I couldn’t find the chocolate fondue on my fandecks but I assume it’s a rich brown. Perfect with reds and creams for your den/study.

Don’t panic. Putting rich color up on the walls is always a bit of a shock. Just give it a little time.

Ben Moore’s Jackson Tan (HC-46) is kind of the cocoa to which I was referring. I would paint additional doors the house color and reserve the punch for the front door only. Then there’s no confusion when guests arrive in your driveway. Screen doors and storm doors are always a decorator’s nemesis. Sometimes we go with the trim color. Sometimes we go with the front door color. But they’re rarely decorative. Try to blend away the functinal door as best you can with whatever color will make it go away.

Hi Barbara,
After looking at many of the faux finishes available for laminate countertops, I finally settled on standard black formica for my kitchen countertops. Of course it’s not that simple. (is it ever?) What’s the difference between the matte and the sparkle finish and which would you recommend? I don’t want a “shiny” look but I don’t want the counters to look dull – like rubber tires either. Cabinets are white – Have you seen both of these finishes in black? It’s very hard to tell from those little chips. Thanks!

I have not seen both of these surfaces in person. All I know is that the sparkle has a small-scale texture that is supposed to make it brighter and more durable. But honestly? I can’t tell you which one would be better. Just a guess, but the matte might resemble slate with the sparkle trying to pick up a little “granite” sheen. But I don’t think either one could be considered shiny.

I suggest putting the two little squares down on a flat surface and shining an overhead light on them. See which one you like better.

We recently bought a cape cod home in a rural development in central PA. Our cape cod is currently almond colored siding, with almond trim around the windows and patriotic blue/light blue shutters. The house is about 18 years old and the siding is horrible (cracked, broken, pitted, etc). The shutters are marred and fading. We are in the process of picking colors for siding, trim and doors. The door will be a single door, with a set of sidelights one each side. We don’t have a covered porch, but down the road may add one on. But at this time we can’t afford it, nor can we afford stone (which we would love to have). The house looks small from the street, looks like only one floor, with 3 dormers where bedrooms are in the upper floor. The room above the garage is also finished. however, from the back…the house looks huge – because the basement is finished with an outdoor access. The front is very deceiving size-wise.

My question is to what colors would look best, as well as make the home look bigger. We think we have a good idea as to what we may want…but I would appreciate your expertise. We are looking at WICKER color siding, with PEBBLESTONE CLAY trim (Alcoa brand). The siding comes pretty close to the trim around the windows. What color shutters and door would you recommend? We like the rust/red color, but tons of homes in our development have that. We like the midnight blue, or a similar dark color – would that look right? Also – what would you door for a door??

The houses are fairly close together (at least for where I grew up) – there is about 20 feet to both sides of our home before the next house. The one house is white siding/green shutters and door, and the other is a red/brown brick, tan siding with reddish shutters.

Hi Barbara,
We have a white aluminum sided house with a dark gray roof and maroon shutters (the color is called cranberry). We are re-painting our foundation. Do you have any suggestions on what color to paint it?
Thanks!
Becca

Since you have a gray roof, I would stick with a gray foundation. That’s the natural color anyway, and unless you have an extraordinarily high (deep) foundation to camouflage, gray should look fine. Just remember to put foundation plantings in front of it so it just goes away.

The key to making your house look bigger is blending: the ideal scenario is to have the house and trim the same color. What that does is avoid having your house outlined in a different color and calling attention to the dimensions. You can opt for a shade different for the trim, either a shade lighter or darker, but I would keep the color in the same family.

Also, if the roof has the house color in it (it looked like the weatherwood and the pebblestone clay were related) then they too will blend and make the house appear bigger. (The wicker looked like it had a lot of yellow/green in it — on the computer anyway — and I wouldn’t put the pebblestone clay (which looked more taupe) and the wicker together.

Once you do all this, you will need a nice contrasting hardware for the lights, etc. Black wrought iron would work. As for the door, I would still do a dark rusty red just to add some warmth. Your house will go nicely with your neighbor’s. But you can pair taupe with just about anything except yellow.

We bought a 1950’s ranch style home in a great older neighborhood and am trying to decide on exterior paint colors. A house nearby has a color scheme I love – a taupe or tan color with white trim, black shutters and a red door. I can’t seem to figure out what family the color is though. I think taupe but then my color samples are way off when I drive by with them in hand…..beige is off also. I don’t like beiges that are very yellowish or pinkish at all. I like several Benjamin Moore colors like Wethersfield Moss, Nantucket, Valley Forge Tan and even Ivy League which is more green, but would love to hear your thoughts. I would love to get something similar to the house I like so much if I could ever figure out what it is!

I am overhwhelmed! I tend to like the darker shades but don’t know if they would make the house look smaller. I’d love any input you could provide! Your website is wonderful and I am so happy to have found it!

I have posted links to 2 pictures of my very gray, dull house along with 2 of the mystery colored house I love. Also would like your thoughts on shutters for my house on the 2 windows to the right. The larger window on the left is too close to the edge of the house. I hope you can get the pics.

Do you consult with homeowners re exterior paint colors? I found your site based upon a google search relative to paint color coordination with brick homes. I lived in Pennsylvania (Bucks County) and I am trying to find color advice prior to paint our Cape Cod home with brick front.

Please advise if you can work with us through the mail, either post or e-mail.

Through my blog, I give out general color advice, both interior and exterior, to coach people through the color decision process. I do not charge for this service as it tends to be quick and non-specific. Also, because of the computer screen (and what it does to colors) I cannot be sure I’m looking at exactly what your house looks like in real life.

But I am happy to give you an opinion about color choices if you send in a photo. And of course I would be happy to work with you directly, one-on-one, if you would prefer such an arrangement. (I make house calls in New England.) Your local paint store may have the name of a designer or color specialist who could come out to your house and give you specific paint color choices. Whatever works best for you.

The roof will be cedar shingles, and siding will be hardi-plank rather than stucco. Windows are Marvin clad in stone white. We are considering painting the siding a medium green such as Do It Best brand color Seattle (E244) with the trim an ivory white. What color could the shutters be?
We are open to other suggestions but are leaning towards either this medium green family or pale yellow for the siding.
thanks for your help,
M

I suggest, if you do shutters at all (they may not be needed) that you look into board and batten style either dark brown (with green house) or green (with yellow house) for that authentic French look.

Thanks, I thought (hoped!) you might suggest another color scheme altogether. The shutter people had suggested a simple flat panel shaker shutter with varying size panels but I have considered the board and batten style.

If we do go with yellow, what shade green?
thanks
M

ps: there are 4 houses on this street and they are all high fenced and hedged ours is the only one ot hidden from view. The one just past ours,(historic Georgian revival) is semi- visable from the street but not visable from ours, is the exact shade of pale yellow that we like. Do we need to stay away from yellow, is there some etiquette rule here?

My husband and I just bought a house in September and we would live your opinion on what color we should paint our front porch and back deck. Our house is peached colored. With the front porch should we keep the railings white and just paint the green areas?. We are just completly stuck. Thanks a bunch I appriciate what you do.

hi, we are siding our house in certainteed cedar impressions. the color we picked is called granite gray with an off white trim . the problem we’re having is the color on the shutters and the front door . also, does the door and shutters have to match. i already purchased black outdoor lights thanks

Sorry for the delay. Since you’re going with a cedar roof, I suggest you match the shutters to the roof color. It’s just easier and it’s a classic French look. I still like the board and batten style, personally, as it too is more French.

Then you can choose almost any house color — I would avoid choosing the EXACT shade of yellow as your next door neighbor’s house, just to avoid hard feelings if nothing else, but you can certainly choose a slightly different shade of yellow, especially if your house style is different and you’re not right on top of each other. But keep in mind that when you tell your guests that your house is yellow, they may end up at the neighbor’s. But you can go more neutral like a Standish white or Powell Buff (Ben Moore) that have yellow base but do not scream yellow.

Sorry for the delay! I suggest keeping the white railing, at least in the front, and painting the green floor the same brown as the roof color. That will tie the whole house together. As for the back, you might consider replacing the existing railing with the same white you have out front. That would really dress up that back deck.

Otherwise, you could stain/paint it the same brown as the front floor.

Great site! But like all the others posters here I have “color choice issues”. I am wanting to paint our main (& only) living space, combination family room & eating area. Our house is a very small 1950’s rectangular ranch in south florida . This room is “L” shaped and spans the whole width of the house. The natural light comes from east facing sliders (top of L) AND large west facing window on the front of house (base of L). The front door opens directly into this room (there is no foyer). There is little to no architectural detail except baseboards which are primarily hidden because the room is so small all the furniture needs to be against the walls! Any trim you do see is white. Ceiling is a true white not grayish. Floors are a shiny white ceramic tile with a bit of tan marbling.

I love color and have tried many colors over the years in this area. Whatever color is picked you see alot of it because of the wall configuration – the hall from this area to the remainder of the house needs to be painted the same color because there is no “deliniation”.

My problem is that I want to make the room appear larger, light and airy which would suggest using lighter tints. But light colors get very washed out by the bright morning and afternoon light. Mid-tones and darker shades of same color stand up to the bright light but then appear too much/dark when sun is overhead and even worse at night because atificial lighting is poor. Forget the hall because there is no natural light there.

Yellows & tans are terrible in this room. I have a beachy palette of blue/sand/white/green going on in other areas of the house which I would like to continue with. I have been trying to pick a good “grown-up” blue to use on the walls. Something that evokes the beach & sea glass. Green is the color of the outside of the house so I am reluctant to use it as wall color. The blues are all either too light and wash to white or gray or look too baby blue OR seem too dark. What will seem a perfect color on one wall will look terrible on the adjacent wall.

Hi Barbara,
I stumbled across your blog while searching for color ideas for my home. I love your site/advice and am interested in your opinion. We are preparing to replace our roof and repair/replace the cedar siding on our home. Our brick is a mix of tan, chocolate brown and rust red (the grout is grey). I tend to prefer brown shades v. red. What would you suggest for roof color and siding color/stain. We are open to painting the wood or replacing it with a product that requires less maintenance i.e. james hardy, fiber cement, etc… Our porch will be redone as well. I was not sure if the porch should match the siding or be done in a complimentary shade. The shutters and garage doors are currently painted a dark taupe. While I like the color I am not sure how to tie everything in. I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts and have included a link to the pictures below.
Thanks,
SNhttp://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0QaM2zdqxYsnGw

Yes, you have a bit of a challenge. But you’re on the right track to be headed toward the cool side of the palette because it should maximize the space in your room (cool colors recede) and cool the room down with all that sun blazing through the windows.

But what about using two colors: something like Ben Moore’s blue heather (1620) and beach glass (1564), one color for the majority of the perimeter and the other color for your focal point wall, the one you see when you first come in the room from the front door. Using two colors will help to add interest to a space that doesn’t have a lot of other features. Those colors are grayed down to avoid the “blue vibration” that you get with clearer hues, but in Florida, those gray blues might look, well, gray instead of blue. You might also try paradiso (717) and warm springs (682). These are quite a bit clearer and will not have much gray in them at all.

I suggest a dark brown roof much like your current siding color and a light to medium taupe for the siding color. (You may be able to keep the garage doors and shutters.) Then choose a cream trim color and use that for the porch — the posts and railings at least. You can paint the floor and steps a dark brown. That should pull the house together nicely. Just use your brick as your color palette. If you stick to colors in the brick, you’ll be fine.

Hi. I just found your website and hope you can help me. We have a small rancher, black roof, black shutters and everything else is white. It is surrounded by brick columns in front, a brick window box at ground level along the sides. The brick is old style brick of mixed colors, lots of red, black, some brown, cream.
We are redoing the roof – black.
We have to keep the shutters because one hides a hugh electrical panel on the back wall. Can you suggest a color for the house trim and shutters to compliment the brick.
Is there an email address I could send a photo to.
thankyou so much for your time.
Brenda

It wasn’t completely clear to me if you plan to change the house color or just the trim and shutters. I like the black shutters with the black roof, but I’d love to see you warm up the house color to a rich cream or a light camel color with the same color trim (to maximize size). With a monochromatic house color, the brick window boxes and columns can really stand out against the house. The whole look will be really sharp!

Hi Barbara, Thanks for your advice. I like that idea of painting the house camel. Can you recommend an actual camel color. Would you paint the trim a slightly darker color of the house or leave it the same. Right now we have a burgundy door, I think that works? We have a concrete step for the entrance that needs color as well.

We are painting the exterior of our 19 year old house next week, using Benj Moore’s Louisburg Green HC-113 (or the identical, but much cheaper Kwal Howels The Loft CLC 1210). The house has some reddish/cream brick on the porch and front facade and the grout will be set off very nicely by the paint color.

The trim – that’s the issue! Too many off-white choices! I’ve narrowed it down to 4 BM colors Mascarpone AF-20, Timid White 2148-60, Ivory White 925 & Cream Silk 2146-60. How do I ensure that the trim isn’t too pink-hued? Or should I even worry?

I want to ask a question regarding painting the exterior of my home. It is a large Victorian shingle style home with cedar shakes on the first floor,,, stucco and half timbering on the second and third stories. I have chosen California paints …Gable green for the shingles , Asian jute for the stucco and Otis Madeira for the trim. I like the colors..but am a little unsure of the overall look. Maybe I should go to a softer red brown of the trim..Maybe a color called Burnt Umber..or Bean Pot or Liberty…maybe I should consider a grayer brown..such as Tyson Taupe. My roof is a Grey/bluish black. faux slate asphalt. This is a large house in a historic neighborhood. I would appreciate your suggestions

Hi Barbara,
I’m very excited to have found your website. My husband and I are just starting to paint our mediterranean style house. It is stucco with a red tiled roof. I’m stuck on a few things.

One color combination we are considering is white with red accent (on the front door and 2 sets of side shutters). I’m not sure what to do about the garage. We’re deciding between a light colored brown (to make it look like wood) or keeping it the same color as the house. If we use brown, I’m afraid it will look off balance with the accent color on the door, but if we use white, I’m afraid it might look like too much white. The garage doors are currently a light gray, which is OK. My second question is about the trim. I’m thinking that white would be best, but I wonder if it should be the same shade of white.

The other color combination we are considering is yellow with a green accent on door and shutters. Do you have any suggestions for yellow and green paint on this style house? What would you suggest for the trim and the garage?

I’ve attached a link to pictures of the house to give you a better idea. I’d appreciate any advice or new ideas you can give me.

A lot of Mediterranean style homes have solid wood doors and solid wood garage doors (brown) so if you decide on brown (regardless of the house color), I would paint both the garage and front doors. In your case at least.

I do a lot of preaching about garage doors and how to avoid accenting them, but your style of home is an exception because it doesn’t have a lot of trim around the doors so painting the doors the same color as the house would create a solid wall of that color.

If you would like a different front door color, then I would paint the house and trim two different values (light and dark) of the same color. For example, cream on the house with a darker shade on the trim, including the garage doors, and terracotta front door and shutters. That would be warmer than what you have currently.

I’m not crazy about green on Mediterranean -tyle homes — I prefer to see warm colors like yellows, golds, and creams. Then let the contrasting cool colors come from the landscape.

Barbara,
Thank you very much, that helped a lot. I don’t think I want to paint brown on the doors and garage. I like real wood doors and garage doors, but that’s a little expensive for us right now.

Do you have a specific cream and darker shade trim that you could recommend? We were looking at Pittsburgh paint colors 523-1 Atrium White (I think that’s about what we have now) and Mother of Pearl 513-1. Or were you thinking of something softer.

Also, can you recommend a terra-cotta color. I’ve looked for terra cotta before and can never seem to find the right shade.

Have a look at Ben Moore’s linen white (912) and cookie dough (916) or if they’re too yellow, see navajo white (947) and cayman islands (952). There’s also feature down (953) and ocean beach (958) for a sandier look — less yellow.

Pretty much any two “creams” will work, one being darker or richer than the other. This will also work with richer yellows if you want more color on the house.

Question. With the light gray roof, what colors are options if I want to darken up the house? Would a sage green or dark grey blue work? What about the porch and exsisting white windows? Please help! It’s a real “fixer upper”.
Thanks.
Laurie

I like a very dark gray or a soft black shutter and door for your house, even with the gray roof. Dark green or dark blue might work as well, but there’s nothing like black shutters and door on a brick colonial with white trim. Very stately and traditional.

Thank you! I was thinking the same, black or maybe charcoal. About the door, what do you think about white, because the interior of the house is dark because of the surrounding trees.
Should we paint it black outside and white inside?

I really love the richness of dark brown wood floors, and we have dark furniture. How much of an impact will dark floors have on the dimness of the house as opposed to medium brown floors? We plan to make it an open floor plan and use light window treatments and paint to make it as bright as possible inside, and I’m even willing to go lighter on the kitchen cabinets.

You can definitely have white for the interior of your door (or some other color even). And black for just the exterior. That will work fine.

I personally think that dark brown wood floors are preferable over medium and light floors. They ground the room and make it feel very rich. Don’t worry too much about the furniture being dark. Just keep the walls light and use minimal or light-colored window treatments. You should be fine. And yes, lighter cabinets will help in the kitchen.

I stumbled upon your site in my quest for painting my home. I bought it last year and it needs mainly cosmetic updates. The house is about 60 years old and it’s just a tiny 2 bedroom 1 bath box home. I am adding window planter boxes under the front windows to add a bit more character. The garage is detached. The home is currently blue with white trim. I have seen blue homes with red shutters in the past, but, of course, now that I would like another reference point, I can’t find one to look at. I am going to keep the blue and my gutters and window boxes are white, but don’t know what effect red shutters will have on the home. I was also thinking of painting the front door a red. I would like character, but don’t want to make the house look smaller that it already is. Any help would be appreciated

You might consider painting your shutters a slightly deeper blue than your house. That will avoid breaking up the facade with too much color, which might accentuate it’s small size. Then, go right ahead and paint your front door a wonderful red. And plant some red flowers and lots of greens in your white window boxes. You’re all set!!

I would like to ask your advise about paint color coordination for a new townhome with an open floor plan. The entrance way (which is in close proximity to the dining room) room (has arched walls around it but open to the living room on one side)) , living room, sun room are side by side, and kitchen (across from dining and living rooms)comprise the first floor. The entire interior is painted antique white (duron) by the builder – no character, style or life. I absolutely love the colors in the painting on your website and have tried to find the pic with no luck. My husband wants a rich color like the ground leaves in the dining room which has half wall white waintscoat. The living room will have a light taupe sectional and the adjacent sun room has a medium sagey green sofa with arm chair of many complimentary colors.
The entire first floor is dark cherry flooring as well as the kitchen cabinets. The stairway to the second floor has wrought iron black railing with open face tread (beige). Cherry woood on the stairs a well. The lighting fixtures are bronze. I’d like to carry this theme of colors from the pic to the master bedroom and 2 other bedrooms as well. I would love your advice. I am an accountant and just have a really tough time with this and eventually just give into whatever is decent. I want a nicely coordinated home that flows and has some wow to it.

Any idea where I can find the picture to purchase or someone who might know?

I would like to ask your advice about paint color coordination for a new townhome with an open floor plan. The entrance way has a hallway which takes you to the dining room on the left. The dining room has 2 arched doorways and the third side has a half wall separating it from the living room. The dining room has half wall white wainscoat and white crown molding. The living room is side by side with the sun room. The living room has a fire place, 2 windows, and a new taupe sectional sofa. The sun room has three windows, a medium sage sofa and multi colored complimentary side chair. The kitchen is next to the sun room and across from the dining room. The kitchen has dark cherry wood cabinets, black appliances, black and coral and tan granite counter tops with tan tile on the walls. The entire house is painted antique white (Duron paint) and has dark cherry wood floors on first floor. The lighting fixtures are bronze and the stairway has open tread exposing cherry wood steps and black wrought iron bars going to the second floor. Second floor has two bedrooms that share a jack and jill bathroom. The bathroom has a graygreen tile wall around the tub and on the floor. Carpets upstairs are beige. The master bath is very large with three windows and a sitting room. It has a tray ceiling and the master bath is tan.

I think going warm is the way will enjoy. My new hubby wants a rich color for the dining room , maybe a warm shade of a rich red.

Your expertise and help with a palette will be invaluable to us. We will be hiring a painter soon.

I suggest you have a look at the following colors as possibilities for your palette: (all Benj Moore)
warm sienna (1203) for the dining room upper wall
powell buff (HC-35) for the sunroom and maybe the kitchen
either saybrook sage (HC-114) or sandy hook gray (HC-108) for the living room depending on the color of the sage sofa in the adjoining sunroom.

The idea is to select a palette of 3-5 colors and move them around so that when you’re done painting and arranging the furniture, you have created a wonderful flow through the house.

Love your site!! It’s just what I need to help me along. My husband & I are in the process of building our dream home – our little cabin in the woods. It will be a cedar sided home with hunter green windows & down spouting. My most recent issue is with the doors. Of course I would absolutely love to have a mission style fiberglass door, however with the over runs on our budget it looks like the old “nine light ” style steel door is going to have to do for now. My question do I stick with the green color or is better to try to simulate the color of the wood? Is it better to be consistant or will that much green be overboard?

I am so happy I found your web site. I truly need your color help!!!! I have a small average size Cape in CT. I cannot replace the current siding at this time so to buy some time, I am having it painted.

Last year I had the front landscaping re-done. I put in new front and side stairs and front walkway in the flagstone. It has beautiful coloring, grey, tan, brown, rust…. The stairs have the arms where I bought some pots to cascade down the stairs with flowers for the summer and evergreens for the winter on either side of the front door. The pots are in green tones ranging from light to darker blue/green tones.

I have one large window on one side of the front door and a small window on the other side. After putting in the stonework, I did not like the plastic or loovered shutters so I had 4 made. Two pcs. of 7.5″ pcs. wood, side by side, connected at the top and bottom with a horizontal pc. of wood and then a long pc of wood that runs diag. from top to bottom resembling a Z pattern. (I hope this makes sense).

The roof is done in GAF architectural shingles, weatherwood color.

So far, I have a patchwork of colors painted on the side of the garage!! The house color I am leaning towards is from Home Depot and it is somewhat of a taupe brown (called Rocky Ridge ECC-25-1). I do not like white so I chose an off-white for the trim, (Pebbled Shore ECC-18-1). I am stumped with what color to use for the shutters and front door.

Would the pebbled shore trim color look good for the shutters which would match the trim? Someone suggested black. Would that be too formal? or boring for shutters and front door.

There is a color I kind of like that would tie in the pots (not that I couldn’t buy new pots if the new house color doesn’t work with the green hue pots I bought). It is similar to the home depot Ottor Creek (kind of blue green) ECC-14-3.

I am just so confused and afraid that I will not like the house when it is done and who can afford to re-paint? Not me!

The painters are coming if two weeks.

What do you think? Do you need pictures? I could see if my daughter could help me with that.

I just emailed you above. I thought of a few more details that may be helpful. I noticed in other responses you have suggested to make the house look bigger, to keep the trim the same color or a shade or two lighter. I do have white windows which are probably a bit faded now since they are older. Should I change my trim choice from the pebbled shore?

I just love the stone stairs and walkway and want to do whatever is best to accent this natural look. That’s why I could not put up the traditional loover or plastic shutters.

I also have a detached one car garage relatively close to the side door. I have purchased a decorative pc. of iron, kind of greenish in color, that I had thought I would put over the garage door where it peaks ^. I don’t know what kind of look I am creating here. What does it sound like to you?

My neighborhood is small with starter type homes. The house to my right is light blue aluminum/vinyl(?) siding, white trim and on the other side is older Cedar shingles stained red.

Also, what color would you suggest for the side-entry door. The common entry door.

I have a brick 1957 ranch in the south that has many interesting issues. Any advice on any of them would be well received. We are considering fixing up the exterior, but want to keep our costs down as much as possible but don’t want it to look like we don’t care. A few issues are 1) having 2 front doors 2) a big white spot on the front where former owners removed some glass doors 3) old brick that doesn’t match new brick and we need to replace the roof and the trim beneath it. Now would be a good time to pick a new color for the roof, the trim, doors and shutters even. Will take advice on concrete sidewalk in front or anything else!! Thanks so much. Love your website

For a moment, I thought brown would be the way to go with the front door to blend with the house color and call less attention to the door. But if you plan to paint the door trim hunter green and you’re not thrilled with the door itself, then continue the hunter green onto the door. That whole entryway will come as a unit and the door itself will just be part of it. I love that combination of the cedar and the hunter. A classic!

I think your color choices are fine. I do prefer a lighter trim around white windows, but I think your trim choice will look fine both around the windows and along the edges.

I would love to see a photo to give you more specific suggestions, but it seems like your house is part Cape Cod cottage and part English cottage. I think it’s good to stick with a palette that comes right out of your stonework. That will be the most natural.

As for shutters, you might consider a dark brown (as long as there’s some brown in your weatherwood roof — hard to tell from the computer screen). Black always works. Especially with taupe!

Amazing what previous owners can do, isn’t it… well, not to worry. There are fixes to your problems.

I think it’s a good idea to move the front entry to the current slider area since it opens into your living room anyway. A nice door unit with side lights (hopefully) will fit nicely in that space. Make sure you install new lights on either side of that unit to make it perfectly clear that it’s the new front door.

Then make your other small door a porch door and really play that up on the outside with some pots of plants (one covering the transition between brick and stone) and some patio furniture.

As for the white spot, just paint it brick color and cover with vines as you suggested. Great idea.

The trim should probably be white although you can choose the grout color from your brick (tan) if you want a softer look. The roof, either charcoal or brown. Brown would be nice for your shutters.

As for the extra fascia boards, you can try taking one down and see what’s under there. Although from your past experience and previous owners, you might be putting it right back up. Just paint it trim color, and you’ll be fine.

We are overwhelmed and desparately need some hlep! After completing interior work on our 1912 stucco home, we are ready to tackle the much-neglected exterior. Here are some photos of the current state of the house:

We would like to soften up the look of the house, and are strongly considering a light sage green body color with a cream trim, and rusty red front and back door (our roof color is charcoal). However, this is a big change from how the house is currently painted, and we are nervous about our choice, particularly due to not really being sure about what does/does not work with a stucco house. There is a lot of trim and gutter work along the roof line and around the windows, and also on the wood bannisters of the stairs; is one trim color enough or would you recommend adding an accent color? Our windows are new and the muntons and frames are white. I don’t want a pure white trim on the house – will a cream look ok on the trim next to the white windows? As far as the doors, what are your thoughts on the red for both the front given the glass door style? Also, should our side door also be painted the same color as the front door? Lastly, curb appeal is lacking in the house currently, and although a paint job will help, we are considering narrow shutters on the front upstairs bank of windows and/or iron window boxes on the front of the house. Clearly we have a alot of questions and decisions to make, but any guidance would be much appreciated!

Sagey grey green (as long as it is one of the colors offered in new stucco) should work fine. And cream trim. BUT…

With your stone work and wrought iron, I see your house in a taupe, which is terrific on stucco as it is a natural color. Then you could keep the trim white to really set off your wonderful windows. I do agree that for areas like the stair handrail and other “trim” areas, a third color might be necessary. Dark brown would work or a dark charcoal.

As for the doors, since they’re really part of the windows, I would keep them white. Then you could add color with the flowers in your wrought iron window boxes.

I wouldn’t worry about adding color directly to the house. Keeping a neutral palette for this style of house and adding color with accessories is a great way to go.

The lower level is full brick, and new cement fiber siding is being installed on the upper level. The front has a new Azek-trimmed covered porch, and there is siding on a large dormer above a bow window (thinking about a shallow copper roof over the lower bow window). Gable ends are also sided as is the full width rear dormer. A brick-walled side porch has wood columns, railings and balusters.

The new roof is dark brown (Landmark “Burnt Sienna”). Replacement windows and storm doors are Pella “Poplar White” and porches and other trim will be painted to match.

There is a detached two-car garage that is wood siding with the same brown roof.

Current siding color is a deep reddish brown that blends with the brick. It would be safe to stay with that color, but I’m ready for a change. Having trouble deciding on color for new siding. I’m partial to a very dark blue-green (i.e. Glidden “Footpath).

Thanks so much for your thoughts! We are now going to ask our painter to put up samples of both the green/cream combination and taupe/white combination to consider. Is there any particular taupe by Benjamin Moore that you are partial to? We probably would like to consider something on the lighter side, not too dark. Are Horizon Gray or Camouflage considered taupe or are they in the green family? Where you thinking more along the lines of Pebblestone Beige or Barleyfield Beige? Also, not sure now if we want to look at a lighter, sagey green such as Saybrook Sage or Guilford Green, or consider a darker more olivey green (saw a stucco house in our town with olive green/cream scheme and really like it). We’d love to look at any Ben Moore colors in these schemes that you are partial to.

Also, do you think shutters or no shutters for the upper front windows? And I’m not sure where to add an accent color on the house with all the trim – should I focus on the roof line?

I was thinking of something like lenox tan (HC-44) or Springfield tan (AC-5) for the taupes. Neither is too dark. As for greens, I like the olivey side better — clarksville gray (HC-102) is nice. (Hancock gray HC-97 is terrific but may be too dark for your taste — it’s nice though!)

I would take a good look at your stone foundation and pick a color that comes right out of that. Your house will be stunning. (Guilford green is too light and too clear a color — you need something a little more period-looking than that.)

As for trim, I would stick with either the white or cream for the most part. Then you can add a third color on the stair railing and the kick plate to the front door. Also pick up that third color with a pot of flowers and other accessories.

Forgot to address the shutter issue. I wouldn’t bother with the second floor window shutters since the first floor windows cannot accommodate shutters. I’d stick with window boxes on both upper and lower windows.

I ordered a new roof from Lowes. My house has red brick in front with a little yellow
siding in front. The sides and back of the house are yellow siding, so I need a color that goes with red brick AND yellow siding, although the appearance of the front of the house is more important.

I originally wanted a color called Autumn Brown, but they do not have it in architectural shingles. It is a medium brown as opposed to a dark or light brown.

The brown color they have in the archichitectural shingles is very dark (, so I chose a color in the architectural shingles called “Desert Tan, “ which seems a dark tan, almost brown to me.

Here are the colors:
(The present color of the roof shingles are a terra cotta).

Do you think the Desert Tan goes with the red and yellow? I do not want the dark brown because coupled with the darkish red brick, it would probably make the house look smaller.

As I drive around, most houses seem to have dark roofs, mostly approaching black. I would imagine that is for heat absorption in winter. I really care more about the way the color look than heat absorption.

Hi, Barbara. What a wonderful idea for a blog! I live in a 107-year-old brick Dutch colonial. All the brick is painted white. The shutters and roof are dark green. I HATE the color of my front door (a purple-red color) and want to repaint it. What do you suggest? Thanks!

Since your house is white (with dark green being the only other color), you have a host of choices. (That’s why you’re asking me, right?)

I suggest either a rich rusty red (not the purpley red that you have now, but a more earthy color like Ben Moore’s mexicana 2172-30) or a lighter version of the green you have on your shutters (or maybe even a yellower spring green like Ben Moore’s dill pickle 2147-40). That would really shake up the color scheme.

I’ve seen the tan roof color on several yellow houses, and it looks fine. And on the customized example from the website, it looks fine too.

Personally, I have a bit of a problem with light-colored roofs (roofs that are lighter than the body color). Maybe it’s my New England location where all the roofs are dark, but somehow the lighter roofs seem to float away visually. I prefer a medium-to-dark colored roof– it just seems more solid.

I wouldn’t worry about a dark roof making your house appear small. It’s the contrast that performs that trick on the eye. There are MANY dark red brick houses with black roofs, and they look fine. But it’s up to you.

Another pet peeve: roofs that are so variegated that they add to the busy-ness of the front of the house and especially if it’s brick or stone, that can be a problem.

Bottom line: I would look at how variegated the different color options are and choose one that has the least. That way, the brick will remain the focal point of your house and the roof will not compete with it.

Hello Barbara! I am just so thrilled I found your site! We just bought our first home with large sunroom in the back of the house. It connects with the garage and the dinning room. We decided to paint most of the house shades of beige, including the dinning room. I want the sunroom to be happy and ‘summery’. Not like cosy red, but sunny. I don’t know if we should paint it blue or yellow? Please help me! Whatever you say will be a big help. Thanks again. ~Carmondy

The color I am considering for the clapboard is on the front door. I am considering the mauve/gray pink and a riesling that is on the windows for trim. Also considering painting the window sash the gray blue/green with the riesling trim all over the house.

The brick isn’t a true anything. It is sort of a latte with pink and blue/green undertones. I am attempting to create a cozy garden cottage. Strange color placement doesn’t bother me…as long as it works.

The ridge pole and spouting will be painted this time, so none of that Dover white will show.

I am really insecure as the painting time draws near. Any help you could offer would be very much appreciated. I am very unsure about the front windows.

Please help! We are trying to find the right color for our front door and we have already tried two colors that just aren’t working. The house color is SW Svelte Sage and the trim color is SW Dover White. The door was painted the Dover White and it was okay but my husband wanted something more dramatic. The person painting our door wants us to use a particular paint by Porter b/c he says that in his experience it is the best for dark exterior doors. We have tried a dark brown that had a purplish color in it–too purple! and now we tried a camel brown called Bread Basket. Yuck. Also, the concrete floor at the entrance has a special stain on it that is a chocolate brown. My feeling is that we should go back to the dark brown but leave out the purple. What do you think? Also, our door handles are brushed nickel.
Thanks for your help. My painter is coming back tomarrow and I need to know what to do!
Robyn

Have a look at Ben Moore’s hawthorne yellow (HC-4). It’s a creamy light yellow. Also for a richer buttery yellow, try sweet butter (171). Then you can use blue and white accents for a really sunny sun room, regardless of the weather.

I hope I’m not too late for your painter, but I would definitely go back to the dark brown (without the purple). It will look terrific with the sage and fabulous with the brushed nickel hardware. Ideally you might have a solid wood door in a dark stain so we’re really trying to replicate that with paint. I think the dark brown will work fine.

I just found your website – awesome! I hope you can help! My husband and I just bought a house built in 1972. One of the bathrooms has a baby blue bathtub and toilet. The bathtub fixtures are gold (ugh), and the tile around the tub is white with gold splashes. It has tan carpet. The lighting is horrible – but that can be easily fixed. We have thought about re-doing the tub and toilet – but I was wondering if there was a wall color that would actually make it not look so awful as it currently does. We need to replace the fixtures, and want to tile the floor. Any suggestions?? By the way, the room is small (sink is in separate room)

The best way to disguise bathroom fixtures is to paint the room the same color, maybe just a shade lighter. But if that is still not your favorite color, then the other option is to paint the room an ice blue (very light tone of the same blue) and use the darker fixture color as your accent color in the room. Along with a really bright complementary color like bright yellow or orange that will take your eye away from the fixtures.

Another idea is to use five or six different blues in the bathroom, a monochromatic look that will be soothing overall but will distract you from the fixtures. Throw in a little green and white as accents and you have a nice bathroom.

What you want to avoid is any color that will call attention to the fixtures, like painting the walls yellow. Think blending…

We are getting ready to paint our center entrance colonial. Our home sits off the road somewhat with a stone wall in the front and a backdrop of pine trees and woods around us. The house itself does not have trees hugging it, though. My dilemma of course is color. Without the benefit of a photo, can you help? Right now it is Cromwell Gray, but that colors seems to do nothing for it. I have thought about Shelburne Buff with cream trim and have played around with Cummings Oak by California Paint – any suggestions? We have no shutters but would be looking to add them at some point.
Without seeing the house any ideas/suggestions?
Thanks, Mary Ellen

With a backdrop of pine trees and woods, your house kind of blends away, I suspect. So a lighter color would help it stand out. (I do like to coordinate with the landscape, but sometimes we can go too far.) You didn’t mention your roof color but don’t eliminate the idea of a beautiful rich red like Ben Moore’s country redwood with cream trim. Another wonderful color for your environment is richmond gold (HC-41) also with cream trim. I would use black shutters for both especially if you have a black/gray roof. You can certainly go taupe (the shelburne buff) but for your colonial, I would rather see a little richer color.

I’m looking for advice on living room/dining room colors. I have a small (900 square foot) home, built in 1895, a simple 2-story farmhouse style. Most windows are north facing, so rooms are a bit dark. I have great black and celadon pottery to work with, as my brother is a potter! See samples at http://www.lotsopots.com/. I’m searching for a color that will compliment his pottery, yet have some warmth/lightness to brighten up the rooms. I’ve tried several colors ranging from pale celadon, to chocolate brown, to green gray. All seemed too dark. I’m considering a lighter cream. Any suggestions?

Thank you for the paint color suggestions to go with my baby blue bathtub and toilet! I tried out a multi-blue color scheme on a bathroom with baby blue fixtures on Valspar’s website and think that will work for my blue bathroom.

I found your website because I was searching the web for paint colors to go with a yellow brick house with a brown roof. Currently the siding, shutters and garage are painted blue. The siding really needs to be painted, and I don’t like the current blue color. I have read your blog on coordinating brick house, siding and roof colors, but am still at a loss as to what to paint the siding.

My husband has prepped the house for painting and wants me to pick something out soon!! I would appreciate any suggestions. You can view photos of the house at:

Re: my yellow brick house – I should have added that in addition to our blue siding, the blue garage doors and shutters need painting too. Also the front door is currently a burgundy color – I figure that will have to be changed also. Any coordinating suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Diane

Hi Barbara,
I am SO glad that I found this web site! My husband and I are going to be building a house fairly soon. This is the house plan: http://www.houseplans.com/plan_details.asp?id=21848
We love the idea of having a rusty, red colored metal roof, white siding and black shutters (maybe even a red door???), but I can’t seem to find any pictures on-line with this color scheme. I have looked and looked, but nothing. We aren’t sure right now what the trim color is supposed to be. Do you have any ideas or pictures that you could send me to help me out with my decision? Thanks!

I need help deciding on a porch color! We have a traditional white colonial with black shutters. Right now the farmers porch is a very worn out unpainted, unstained old wood. It needs re-doing! I don’t see many color options though with this color house? Do i leave it rustic looking and unfinished? Or should i stain it or paint it a color? (Our front door is white)

We are building a new home and I need to firm up the trim, gutters, and facia very soon. For some reason I’m at a standstill with this decision..can you please help? Our home is on 5 acres of wooded property in an equestrian community. We are building a Craftsman/old world style home. We have vaulted ceilings, greatroom & diningroom combined. We have 2 large porches front & back and one on the side at my husbands office. Our brick gives an old world look with soft tones of cream, grey, brown, rust (maintains an overall light creme look) and white mortar. The color of the brick is Augusta by General Shale. Our roof is very large with lots of angles and peaks and is done in the color brownwood (gives a dimensional look of brown tones, ginger, rust, it is the darkest of the brown tones through Owens Corning. Our window trim is bronze by Marvin windows. We will have the carved gable peaks similar to a mountain craftsman facade (amicola cottage)..
we want to achieve this look and will be using James Hardie siding in Autumn Tan as an accent on the exterior. Behind the peaks of the home we will be using a material called
Nichiha Sierra Shake in the color Mahogany. We would like to continue with the earth colors and a more muted palette.
Should we try to match our window trim (bronze) by using a dark brown shade. We also liked a color called Tuxedo gray that appears more like a pewter color but would not match the dark brown roof as well. Also if we do opt for a color to match our roof should we also do the house peaks in this same dark color or should we trim these gable peaks in a creme color along with the carved accents? Thank you so much for your help, looking forward to your reply!

Just came across your great site. I have a 1923 semi-detached brick house and am planning an addition that will be partly visible from the front facade. The bricks are a very dark reddish-brown and have a rough, rustic finish that was popular in that period. The front door is a beautiful natural, varnished oak one with a wrought-iron grille. There is no proper porch, just a small portico, really just a door surround affording no protection from the rain, which is painted white. The small roof of the portico is painted a beaten copper color. light green, as is the roof flashing. The iron stair railing and mail box are both black. The neighbor’s house is identical and painted the same colors, with the same door. My question is, what color should we make the addition? We are thinking of doing it in stucco, since that was a popular exterior covering in the 1920s and is cheaper than brick. Also, the brick would be very difficult to match. I am also considering adding a small mudroom to the side entry. Thanks so much for your suggestions!

That pottery is absolutely gorgeous!! But I think you’re right. A light cream will be the right backdrop since you really can’t use dark brown because of the light (or lack of it). You might want to use the dark brown accent color for accessories (as your brother has done with the pottery) in the cream rooms. That will offer needed contrast without soaking up too much light.

Thanks for including his web link. I’m sure others will want to have a look.

Sorry for the long delay (vacation). If you haven’t painted yet, you might consider chocolate brown. Your roof is on the red side and the brown will provide a neutral complement between roof and brick. If that seems altogether too boring, you might try a neutral (see grout color or actual brick color) for the vertical siding and then another accent color (dark grape would work) for the shutters and doors. But at first drip from the ceiling, I suggest a darker roof color to free up the color scheme a bit.

Your roof color will make a great color statement on your house so I would stick with white trim (or a slightly grey version of white for a little contrast). Then the black shutters and rusty red door to match the roof will look terrific.

Don’t worry that you can’t find a photo of that color scheme. As long as you’re happy with the red roof (and it sounds like you are), your new home will look terrific! No problem.

Hi Barbra,
I just happened upon this site and would be thrilled if you could help me decide… I am having a stamped concrete patio put in behind my garage, off of my doorwall of the house. My house is a brick ranch, with the color being not grey or beige..but a sort of cream color. I am having a hard time deciding what color to do the patio in. The area is going to be about a 25′ x 21′ area and also include a porch top and steps down to the patio. My roof is shingled in tones of brown with a hint of red here and there. I was thinking of going with grey concrete but am afraid it might look TOO much like a slab of plain concrete. The brown tone is my other option choice, which might make a nice contrast, but on the other hand, might look like it doesn’t match….Any rule of thumb to go by, or any suggestions? Thank you so much! Elaine Krimmel

Thanks for your reply – and yes, we have already painted the house! After reading the article on your site about coordinating brick and siding color, and your comments on pulling color out of the brick or grout, I used the Behr website to try out colors on the house. I decided to try out two sample colors, a cream color/creamy yellow (bavarian cream) and a chocolate brown (!). You had some comments about paint color “chopping” the house up, and the brown didn’t look quite right, so I thought blending would be better. I settled on the bavarian cream, and am so pleased with the outcome! You can see the results (well, the work in progress) on http://newhouse247.site.shutterfly.com.

We haven’t decided on a door color as of yet. My husband is thinking we should paint it a dark green, but I am not so sure. When we took off the glass storm door to paint the door trim, the cranberry door did not look half bad. Would a warmer red color work? I also had thought about a purple-ish color, so was intrigued regarding your suggestion of dark grape!

I suggest you either put an opaque stain or a porch paint on the flooring part of the farmer’s porch. You can go with black or a charcoal gray to go with your white house and black shutters. Then paint the posts and the railing (if there is one) white (exterior semi-gloss). That should take care of the porch but what you REALLY need to focus on after you’re done with that project is painting your front door something other than white. Pick a nice rich accent color and liven up that entry. You’ll be amazed at the transformation!

Thank goodness you’re putting on an addition. It must be really fun having a twin house next door. Well, not for long! I love the idea of a stucco finish. I would choose a neutral color in the tan to camel range that will compliment your brick and set it off as well as coordinate with your oak door color. I would not try to match stucco to brick color.

Ordinarily it’s nice to have a contrast between house color and patio to really make both stand out. In your case, however (since that would mean gray), I would opt for a patio in the same color scheme as your roof with browns/reds in kind of a sandstone look (as opposed to limestone gray).

The browns will coordinate with your house color and make the space warm and inviting.

WOW, what a transformation! I love the cream color — it really makes the brick and roof look fantastic!

As for the front door, I do like the idea of either a dark green (on the olive side — not too kelly or forest) or a dark eggplant. With your red annuals out front, I would lean more toward the green. But I would definitely not go back to red for the door. I think you have enough warmth on the house with the current color scheme. Nice job!!

Your post popped into the wrong file and I just discovered it. So sorry for the long delay.

Without seeing a photo of exactly where the trim is located in relation to all the other materials on your home, I suggest that you stick with the traditional dark brown that will go with the roof yet accent the shapes and lighter tones in the brick and siding. I’m not exactly sure where the mahogany shakes are going but there should still be enough contrast with a dark brown trim to highlight that area as well.

Since the only gray is in the brick, I would not use the pewter as it will call too much attention to the trim. Cream, of course, will also work for a trim color but will create more contrast than the brown especially around your bronze windows. Either the dark brown or cream will work — just make sure there’s enough contrast between trim and siding materials to highlight your spectacular architecture.

I love your site, it is very informative. I love your ideas and I hope you can help me. We have a Reis Colonial house. We are planning on re-siding the whole house in pebblestone clay (another color that we were contemplating was Savannah Wicker, but I am afraid it might look yellow). We would use the shaker style vinyl on the front of the house only and the double 5” or 6” regular siding on the sides and back. We are getting a new garage door, and I am thinking of white, I believe you mentioned somewhere above that white is the easy way out, instead of using a color. We have a single front door and are planning on building a portico with white trim and white posts over the front steps. My idea of a color for the front door is a stained door in mahogany. We are changing the roof as well, I am debating between a dark gray, close to black or a dark brown. I don’t know how a dark brown roof would look with black shutters. FYI, from the street, the garage is to the right of the front door and is being moved forward, just past the front door. We are also planning to have a roof line on both sides of the portico. The right side would be about 5’ deep over the garage and the left side would be about 2 feet deep set back over a bay window. . I hope all this makes sense to you. We also got rid of our small deck on the back of the house and want to do a patio instead. We would like to use pavers. Can you suggest what color pavers would look good with the above coloring. I would love to hear your opinion and/or any suggestions that you may have.

I tried sending you a picture of my house, but I am having trouble, will keep trying. I think my house is actually a Greenway and not a Reis Colonial.

I saw a picture on your site of a stained garage door, which looked very nice. I would like a maintenance free steel garage door. FYI, in my neighborhood, about 98% of homes have white garage doors. I also don’t know how a wood tone door would look with black shutters, which I really like.

I sent this message to you yesterday, but I am not sure if it went through, so here it is just in case:

I love your site, it is very informative. I love your ideas and I hope you can help me. We have a Reese Colonial house. We are planning on residing our whole house in pebblestone clay (another color that we were contemplating was Savannah Wicker, but I am afraid it might look yellow). We would use the shaker style vinyl on the front of the house only and the double 5” or 6” regular siding on the sides and back. We are getting a new garage door, and I am thinking of white, I know you mentioned somewhere that white is the easy way out, instead of using a color. We have a single front door and are planning on building a portico with white trim and white posts over the front steps. My idea of a color for the front door is a stained door in mahogany. We are changing the roof as well, I am debating between a dark gray, close to black or a dark brown. I don’t know how a dark brown roof would look with black shutters. FYI, the garage is to the right of the front door and is being moved forward, just past the front door. We are also planning on having a roof line on both sides of the portico. The right side would be about 5’ deep over the garage and the left side would be about 2 feet deep over a bay window. . I hope all this makes sense to you. I would love to hear your opinion and/or any suggestions that you may have.

Sorry for the delay. I like your color choices (I also like the Savannah wicker even though it has a yellow tone to it). Either siding color will work fine with your traditional style. Black shutters are best with a charcoal roof but a mahogany front door will look great! As for the garage, I prefer to paint it the house color so it doesn’t stick out so much, especially since it will be quite prominent on the front of your house. White trim around the door will tie it all together.

You don’t have to worry about painting the garage door. The painter will know to clean it first with TSP and give it a good prime coat. It should be fine.

I need some advice on my ongoing coloring project.
My house is a old style house, with wood (honey/maple color, I don;t know the exact stain) color closet doors, door frames, window frames and floor.
With this we went with a Tangerine (Valspar) in the childrens/toys room. It feels a bit loud. There is only 1 window in that room. How can I make the room feel more open, with this color on. else shall I recolor 1 shade lighter ?

Also I have some tangerine remaining. Can I use this tangerine mixed with 1/3rd White to paint my hallway, adjustant to the toys room ?

Kitchen is a Wheat Yellow(cannot remember the exact name). It looks nice. Kitchen opens up in the living room. Both get a lot of daylight. Will it be a good choice to put some muted green color in the living room ?

Any inputs for the bedroom colors ? Surely do not want any dark colors.

With all that color, what you really need is white trim everywhere, including doors and door/window frames. The white trim will make all your colors cheerful and clear and will brighten the rooms without repainting. As for the hallway, you might stick with a more neutral color like the one in the kitchen to give the eye a rest going from room to room. Green would be terrific in your living room — but with all that trim painting, the living room might have to wait awhile. Write back when you need to zero in on a color.

You have a great website. I used suggestions from your Brick House category when building my new house, epecially the advise on picking colors for the trim.

Now that my house is built, I am looking for advise on what colors to use for my kitchen walls. First off, my kitchen is closed off from the rest of the open floor plan. The dining room, living room and sun room are all open to one another. The living room and sunroom will be painted in BM Carrington Beige. The dining room I plan on painting the top part of the chair rail Carrington Beige with the lower portion being Louisburg Green.

Now the kitchen… the cabinets are a medium cherry, stainless steel appliances, the counter top is Corian Maui with the backsplash being Daltile Turret Beige (has streaks of beige, cream, white and gray in it) and the floor tile is a light gray color. Kitchen table is cherry and black.

I’m having a hard time determining what color paint will help show off this room. The kitchen is on the west side of the house so it receives lots of light in the late afternoon and evening. The Maui countertop in the afternoon/evening light has a grayish cast to it. During the day, it doesn’t. It looks more brownish.

I was looking at several colors such as BM Soft Fern and Camoflauge. I also thought of just painting it Carrington Beige as well but felt I wanted the kitchen a different color since it was more closed off from the other rooms.

At this point its not possible to change the color of existing doors and their frames.
What we can change are the mouldings all over.

The floor is honey maple. and the doors/windows are a little darker than the floor.

So what are your suggestions of a good muted green color for the living room (keeping the doors/windows as they are.)
I understand it should not be on a darker side…. but I want something which would be cosy.

I can create a neutral color (little on the tangerine side), by mixing a little tangerine with white. Do you think its a bad idea ?

Muted green in the living room, which opens in a toasted wheat kitchen. On the right of the kitchen is a hallway (can be painted some neutral color)..
Hallway opens up on 3 bedrooms. One of which is already tangerine.
What color/fabric currtains you would suggest, knowing the color of the room and less light it gets. I want to restain from whites as its a kids room.. would some cream look nice ? What about the color? Should I tone it down ?

Can you also suggest some colors for consideration for the other 2 bedrooms. One is a guest room and other is a master bedroom.

Have a look at Ben Moore’s papaya (957) or ocean beach (958) for your kitchen. Although it may blend with your backsplash, it should make the cabinets and the other richer colors in the room stand out. Definitely move to a different color from the Carrington beige. It’s a beautiful color, but you’ve got enough of it already.

If you’d like something a little yellower, try powell buff (HC-35) or for just a light cream on the walls, look at buttermilk (919).

Have a look at Ben Moore’s soft fern (2144-40) if you want a really soft sage green or if you want to punch it up a bit more, fernwood green (2145-40) is nice too.

As for the hallway, you can add lots of white to the tangerine and it will be like painting a peach tint on your walls. Bright and cheerful, for sure.

For your bedrooms, choose colors you like. But here are a few of my favorites: Hawthorne yellow (HC-4), wythe blue (HC-143), buxton blue (HC149), and folk art (528). For your tangerine room, just leave it as longs as the kids like it. For accessories, use a mixture of white with navy blue.

Hi Ms. Meglis! Your blog came at the most appropriate time. I am having a painting nightmare!! I will try to explain this to you as simple as possible in the least amount of words.

Here it goes:

My husband and I just bought an older home (60+ yrs). I decided to take on the daunting task of painting the woodwork. I settled on an off white color called cashmere white. Its not white, but not cream either. I started upstairs and am now trying to work my way down the staircase into the living room. My living room has a fireplace as the focal point of the room. Behind it I am going to paint a rich/county red called vesuvius garnet. The remaining three walls of the room I was going to paint a mustard yellow/gold color. Now here is where I run into my problem. My sister recommended changing the color of the trim downstairs to a creamier color so that when I painted the fireplace it would really POP against the red wall as well as tie into the gold color. My issue is, I have a problem changing the trim work. I’m not an interior designer and to be honest I absolutely HATE to decorate. It stresses me out! Hence the reason I am so happy to have found YOU!

All of this being said, my two questions are–Do I change the trim work in the lower level or the house and leave it the same. My second question, do I paint the banister/spindles or do I leave them in their original wood color?

I hope you can help me soon. I plan to sand and prime the remainder of the trim downstairs tomorrow. Until I hear from you I should have enough to keep me busy and NOT think about the color of the trim. Oy!

Keep the same trim color throughout your house and it will unify the entire space. With a rich red behind the fireplace, there’s no way the trim color you’ve chosen will not pop. You’re all set. The cashmere white will set off the other three gold walls as well and give a crispness to the color scheme. You’ll love it.

If you haven’t yet experienced painter’s fatigue, I would paint the spindles of your staircase white. If you like the wood color, I would leave the rest of it in its natural wood tone.

Thanks Barbara for the color options. I have sample boards of Papaya and Powell Buff already but never thought to use these colors for the kitchen area. I’ll give them a try along with the other colors you suggested.

White accessories in the tangerine, is really looking fabulous. I just read your email and I am so happy that I am on the right track.

About the sage in living room. What kind of color scheme can I use. I have a sage (microfiber) sofa. I was thinking about marron curtains and sage walls…
Now I think marron might not be that good.
Will it be good If I get some golden and brown accessories with the sage in walls?

What other color schemes can you suggest, apart from sage on the walls.

I would bring in some dark orange (or rust/brown) to go with the sage in your living room. That will tie in with the tangerine elsewhere and carry on the peachy color theme you’ve already established. Maroon is kind of an old color right now. I would stick with browns/rusts/brick reds/black to go with your sage.

hi .. its me again 🙂
thanks for all your help last month on the paint colors
we decided on
nantucket grey for the house
barnred shutters with black hardware and an offwhite trim

now i need to decide on the color of the shakes on the garage (detached ) breezeway to the main house
3 car garage to look like a barn

i have the cabot stains chart here .. my builder likes the silver mist (semitransparent )
i was looking at something more natural cedar color ?? keep it in the brown tones ?
we do have stone veneer going up part of the house with copper roofing and gutters ..

thoughts ? (please email me with your answer as well as for some reason my posts could not go through the last time )
thank you !
hope you had a nice vacation

Your paint decisions are fabulous! For the “outbuildings” (as they say), I would definitely choose a natural cedar color and stick with the brown tones. I LOVE that look. And with your copper roofing and gutters, you will be very happy with the brown tones. I think your builder is headed in the salt-aged cedar direction with the grey, but I just think the natural color is warmer.

Your site is very informative. I need your professional advice on what color to paint the window frames of this brick house. As you can see from the attached files, there are multiple colors in each brick… creamy yellows, peach tones, black, white, and, of course, red. The mortar is a rose/mauve color. What specific color would you recommend that would help tie everything together. Also, should I go with satin or a semi-gloss paint?
Thanks for your help.

Wow, red! I suggest either a cream from the brick, the actual clay brick color from around the front entryway, or black. Any of these colors will be, shall we say, an improvement. Don’t forget to paint the trim along the roof line. The same color would be fine.

Hi Barbara!
Help! We bought our house a couple of years ago and I think these folks had a tremendous love of forest green! Inside and out! So, we need to replace our roof now but I’m stumped as to what color to go with. The roof is currently forest green, the siding has a tinge of green in it (very soft), the shutters are forest green and so is the front door (get my point?).

I actually like the warm look but not sure if we’re going to date the house by going with green again. Any suggestions on a different color for the roof?

I think the forest green shutters will work fine if you change the roof to a more traditional dark charcoal. That will free you up to change everything including the shutters and front door if you want to. The green roof is, you’re right, a bit too much for this house.

Hi Barbara, its Deana again. Now that I’ve got the trim painted I’m moving on to the walls. Before diving into my problem let me explain the layout of my home. When you walk in the front door directly in front of you is a closet. To the right is the dinning room and to the left is the living room. The stairs to the upper floor are in the living room. I choose the color White Raisin (Sherwin Williams) for the living room and the color Cottage White (Sherwin Williams) for the entry way. My plan was to paint the living room White Raisin and the entry way and stairway Cottage White. My sister came over and suggested I continue the Cottage White into the dinning room. Her logic was that the lower level is so small and all the rooms sorta blend together with archways–she thought an additional color would be overwhelming. Over the weekend I painted and I don’t like how YELLOW everything is. I like both colors, but after I continued it into the dinning room its all a bit monotonous. I didn’t paint the stairways because I wanted to get your opinion first. My thought was to put chair railing or waynes coating in the dinning room. If I put chair railing in, could I repaint the bottom another color? HELP!

Next question: Could you just PICK my bedroom color for me? Our bedroom set is oak and the bedding is a cream (off white) quilt with intricate embroidery in it. In my first home I felt like everything was yellow and green so I’m trying to steer clear of those colors. Especially because my downstairs have yellows in them. What do you think?

Thanks for your help! I followed your advice on continuing the same color trim through the lower level of the house. I am really pleased with it! Thank yoU!

i forgot to tell you that my house is a traditional cape cod–so the one wall angles. there is also a dormer in the room. i will send you pictures later this afternoon so you have a better idea of what the spaces look like.

Hello Barbara, hopefully you can help steer us in the right direction.
My wife and I recently purchased this all brick ranch style house. Its a dated, yellow/tan brick built in the 1950’s, with dark brown soffit, fascia, guttering, etc. There is one section of vinyl siding in the front of the house up near the ridge that is a very light yellow color, not sure what that is all about. The shingles are shades of browns and tans.

We are in the process of adding an attached 2 car garage (24×24) to the front of it, replacing windows, installing new steel doors, etc. Because the dark brown windows were going to be a special order color we opted to go with a light tan color on all the windows we’ve currently replaced. I emailed a couple of photos that show that include some winow shots. Our old windows don’t match our new ones but the plan is to replace the all dark brown windows with the light tan eventually anyway.

We’ve got two tan coach houes style garage doors that i was going to special this week. We are going to vinyl side rather than brick the new garage and are struggling with what color to go with. We assumed it should be a tan or brown but didn’t know if we should try to match the new color of the tan garage doors and replacement widows, try to match the brick, go darker, go lighter, look for a color other than tan/brown all together etc.

The father-in law talked us into steel doors rather than fiber glass so those need painted and I was wondering if you had any suggestions there as well? My wife was considering a brown color but also a kind of dark burgandy/brownish color. A last improvement we are considering is adding some shutters to dress up the new garage windows as well as the front of the house and wondered what color would look best? any suggestion would be greatly appreciated!!!

Hello
I really need some advice on the exterior colors of my home. I have grey siding (it is more of a lighter shade of grey) and I have a red roof and red shutters (more of a brick red). The trim on the home is white. My house is fairly small and I would like to create more of a cottage feel to it if possible. My question is what color should I paint my front door? I live in the country in Ky. (if that helps any)
Thanks
J

Sorry I forgot to mention the door on the side of my home which is visible from the road when you pull into the driveway . What color do you recommend for it? I would really appreciate any advice that you can give me.
Thanks
J

I got your photos — sorry for the delay. I like the idea of keeping the same color scheme throughout your public spaces downstairs and the chair rail is a great idea. You can introduce a new color in the dining room — something richer that goes with the rest of your color scheme. I like the idea of running the light neutral up the stairs — those areas tend to be dark and you can always add color on the walls with artwork or family photos in the stairwell.

So I would keep the dining room color and add a darker richer shade below either a chair rail or a painted stripe.

As for your bedroom, have you looked at the calm blues, like gentle grey (Ben Moore), silver blue, or Pratt & Lambert’s cerulean haze. All three are very soft and relaxing colors — perfect for your bedroom.

Since you have red shutters and roof already, there’s a lot of color there. I would do a neutral door, like a nice shiny black, and put a large wreath with red flowers (or red somewhere) to give you more of a cottage feel.

I did not receive your photos but I think I can help. I would definitely not try to match anything, the brick, the siding, etc. I would go with a darker color, brown or burgundy will work, for the doors and shutters. Then you can either choose the grout color for your addition or some other color between the brick and the brown/burgundy grim. Use the brick for inspiration and as long as you stick with that color palette, you can mix and match your colors around the house and it will look spectacular. I would not venture into a color that is not in your brick/roof/trim palette unless it’s another neutral, like green. But keep it earthy and you’ll be fine.

I too am very happy to have found this site. My husband and I just purchased our first home. It is a resale home and it has been meticulously cared for. The only thing is that we need to buy a couple pieces of furniture to furnish the “great room”. I want this room to be cosy, as the main floor of the house is very open.

I hope I can describe this accurately enough. The walls are painted a very light brown colour – more of a yellow-ish brown than a pink-ish brown if that makes any sense. I guess you could call it a tan colour. There is oak on the floors, and an oak mantle surrounding the fireplace. There is lots of light coming into this room and you can see this room immediately when you walk through the front door of the house.

So here are my ideas: for a sofa I am thinking a chocolate brown leather two seater facing the fireplace. And I wanted to place two accent chairs in the room as well. I am unsure as to what colour of accent chairs to place in the room though. Any ideas? Also, do you think the chocolate brown sofa will work?

You have a very open floorplan with all the same paint color so I would recommend some upholstered chairs with a little pattern and color. The leather love seat will be fine. Just angle it in front of the fireplace (like the sofa is in the photo) and put an upholstered chair on either side of the fireplace. A coffee table and an area rug will anchor that seating area and you should be all set.

In terms of upholstery color, find some inspiration from some of your other furnishings or artwork that you want displayed in the living room and pick some colors from those items. Bringing in some earth tones with red/rust would warm up the open space.

I am in the process of painting the master bedroom. The color will be BM Saybrook but the color will be lightened 25%. I am stumbed on what color to make the master bathroom and still have a nice flow between the two rooms. The master bath has cherry wood cabinets and cream/light yellow/light gold colors in the tile of the shower and tub area. Light yellow/cream on floor tiles.

I’m uncertain what colors to go with for the room. I was thinking of maybe a medium peach color (not with pink undertones), or maybe a different green color than Saybrook. Working with greens can be tricky so I’m afraid it will be too much green between the two rooms. I was even thinking of having a focal wall painted where the window is (this is also the wall with the tub/shower) and paint the rest of the room in another lighter color.

I found your great site while researching roof colors on the web. We have roofers coming tomorrow and still haven’t settled on a roof color. Our house is an old, historic colonial style farmhouse on a gravel road in a rural setting. It is currently cream (SW Paris white) siding with an old 3-tab red roof. We like the traditional farmhouse look, but we’re thinking of changing the roof color to give us more color options for the siding. We have “a lot” of roof because we have a garage which is connected to the house by a covered walkway You see quite a bit of the garage roof when you’re in the kitchen and diningroom. We’re thinking of doing the roof in a medium gray architectural shingle. Haven’t found one that isn’t too light or too dark yet, but are getting ready to settle on Certainteed’s “Georgetown Gray.” It has a little variation in the color to give it some depth. We are thinking we will paint the house a traditional white, but not sure because the gravel road causes quite a bit of dust in the summer. We are stressing over the roof color because I’m afraid the gray will look “depressing” but sticking with red really limits our siding color options. Do you think Georgetown Gray is a good choice? I would LOVE any suggestions you might have for roof and siding color options. Thank you very much! I will try to figure out how to attach a photo

I like Georgetown Gray but also have a look at Driftwood. It’s a little bit warmer and will still give you siding options. Other great roof colors are Country Gray, Harbor Gray, and Weathered Wood.

Since you have a nice porch, I would keep that white with the rest of the trim and put even the slightest tint of color on the house so the trim (and porch) will stand out against it. I wouldn’t go completely white even though traditionally, the farmhouses were white. A very light warm gray or gray-green would coordinate with the roof and show off the white trim.

Thank you so much for your quick response! I am so appreciative. It’s raining today (yeah! – we’re in the southeast) so I’ve been given an extra day to decide on the roof. I have a follow-up question now that you’ve seen the photos of our house: What do you think about keeping the roof red? The only choice we’ve found is Certainteed’s Cottage Red, which is only available in our area in a 50 year, more expensive shingle (the Independence line). Do you think red complements the style of our house or do you think a warm gray would look better? I do like your suggestion of Weathered wood, which seems to have a little brown in it (Harbor gray and Country gray are not available in our area.) If we keep the roof red, I think we would paint the house creamy white, but I’m open to other suggestions. Thanks again for your help — I’ve learned so much from this site.

If any house can pull off a red roof, it would be yours. I do like the red especially with your brick foundation. And the creamy siding and white trim give the house a fresh look. After living with a red roof, the gray might seem a bit dull. If you like the idea of accentuating your many roofs, then go with the red. It will look terrific. Some people love color — others really don’t. You’re a color person.

One more suggestion: You might want to bump up your accent/yard furniture color a notch so it will be noticed once the new red roof is on. Just to balance.

The idea is to “cross-pollinate” your colors between the master bedroom and bath. If you use green in the bedroom, you can move some green into the bath, either with an accent wall as you suggested or accessories. For the bathroom wall color, you might try picking up on the gold color in your wall tile with something like Concord ivory (HC-12) or another gold that is in your tile. If you do that, you can bring some yellow into the bedroom with bedding and accessories. As long as you mix the colors between the two rooms, they should flow just fine.

Thanks Barbara for the color suggestion and also the on tip “cross-pollinate” between the rooms. When you mentioned that, I noticed I am using greens and purples in the master bath and not incorporating the purples in the master bedroom – just green, white and cream colors.

I will look at Concord Ivory along with Adams Gold and Dunmore Cream (not sure if this color will work or not) to see what will work best.

Are there any other “golds” that you can suggest that are neutral and pleasing to the eyes since yellow and golds can be bright? The master bath does receive a lot of sunlight (southern/western exposure).

Hello
We have just moved into this home this month, it is tan/beige with darker brown wooden shutters and a brownish color roof. This is not the color I would of picked, but I want to make it work! The house sits high off of the road, and it seems like something is missing…we have removed alot of dead trees that were to its right and now have exposed the side of the home to the street, it is a corner lot. It has been hydroseeded and hopefully, there will be a lot more grass in a month!
Can you tell me if we should paint the door and/or garage door? What color would you pick? And the landscaping around the front seems to be lacking, I have planted flowers, which will be mostly purple (just turned out that way), but something is off.
The front steps that the previous owners did not paint nor stain, they are pressure treated, the steps seem out of place…they did not use the front door, there is no walkway.

When I look at the house from the road, something is just off…flowers boxes? I am at a loss!

I suggest painting the doors a nice rich red like Ben Moore’s Country redwood or Cottage red since you use the garage entrance more than the front door. Then you can paint the garage door the same color as the house to blend in.

If you decide to feature your front door (and don’t want guests coming through the garage), then paint only your front door red and paint the garage doors (both of them) the same color as the house.

You could use some large bushes on either side of the front door, other foundation plantings along the front of the house, and definitely a walkway from the driveway to the front door. Even if friends never use the front, it’s always good to have a clear shot to the front door, if only for the pizza delivery guy.

At some point, it might be nice to replace your pressure-treated wood front steps with something more permanent, like concrete with a wrought iron railing. Just make sure to make the top landing nice and wide and deep so there’s plenty of room to maneuver around the entryway.

Window boxes are fussy, but they would look nice on your downstairs windows. But I would do the other landscaping first and see how things look.

Hi Barbara – Here’s a challenge for you!
We have a 1-1/2 storey brick home that is an unusual brown colour that has a slight greenish tinge, with grey grout. The roof is proportionately quite large, and is a domineering red colour. Most of the trim (including shutters, front door, side fence & wrought-iron railing, and garage door) is white. There’s also some red trim, including the front porch floor. Currently we have a gravel driveway.

We’re giving the driveway & house exterior a major facelift which will include new brick/pavers with walkway along the side of the house, new roof shingles, and new painted trim. Basically all that will stay the same is the brick, and the white soffits/fascia/eavestroughs. I’m having difficulty choosing all the new colours! I don’t like the red roof, and I’m not really fond of green so I’d like colours that will minimize the greenish tinge of the brick. I’m not sure whether it is best to match the driveway colour to the (new) roof, or similar to the house brick, or other. And should the door be the same colour as the trim we choose, or white, or a different colour? Our home has a lot of character so I’d love to show off its potential, but how do I make these major decisions and not regret my selections? We’ll also be making some landscaping improvements so if you have any suggestions on that front I’d also appreciate your advice! (I’ll send a picture to your email address.)

#228
Thanks for the advice and the info! I have bought some bushes/shubs for the front, we are widening the front steps, but are going with a wooden step (not concrete mostly because of money), should we stain (paint) them, the darker shade of brown on the parts that you walk on and the risers (?) white, like the trim? Or one solid color?

I think that i wanted the flower boxes is that I really would like something outside that I could decorate for Christmas, branch bows…because I for one am NOT climbing a ladder that high to put lights on… and the incline is a bit steep! If we did go with them should we stain them the same color as the shudders?

I think that the red doors would look great, but you would not recommend painting the garage door and the 2nd entrance the same color as the front door?

Or would you replace the door with a door that had an oval window in it…you can not see who is at the door, and both door bells are on the same door chime, so you never know who is at which door.

We also have a lamp with 3 lights that you can install in your yard, it is black, but where the yard is a slope would you install it? or put it away for the next house we live in?

I just looked at the photo of the house (still not a home yet) and realize that this house needs lots of curb appeal!

Any more thoughts or comments would BR GREATLY APPRECIATED!!! thanks so much

In terms of roof color, check out Landmark’s Weathered wood, Driftwood, and Heather blend. Although I usually don’t recommend an architectural style roof (variegated shingle color design) for brick because it’s busy, those three roof colors are really good with your house. Perhaps there’s a more monochromatic option in one of those colors. Slate is also an idea, given the historic style of your house. Just make sure it’s not too busy so it doesn’t compete with your brick.

In terms of trim color, since you’re keeping the white fascia, soffits, etc., that is the trim color. But you can paint the front door and shutters something darker. Have a look at Fairview taupe (HC-85). Although it is a brown/green, it may really complement your brick color and add depth that the white doesn’t. Wait until you settle the roof color before choosing the accent color. Whitehall brown (HC-69) would also complement your brick.

You have a red garage so you can paint that the accent color you choose (I do like the red though — it looks good). The front step can be neutralized as well.

In terms of plantings, all that bright green kind of clashes with your brick so I would replace much of it with darker evergreens and red shrubs, like barberry. And yellow-green evergreens. Mix it up a little in terms of color and you’ll take attention away from the brick.

Hi Barbara,
I’m hoping that you can offer me your opinion regarding window trim colour. I am going to have a new home built and I am currently selecting the color scheme. I would like to have a darker siding color, such as Tuscan Clay, with non white gutters, fascia, trim, etc. The problem I have with white is that it doesn’t stay white. It gets discoloured with what looks like mildew (I don’t know what it is, pollution probably), so I thought that I could avoid this nasty look by going with non white. However, non-white can really add up, cost wise. Especially for windows. So I am torn between aesthetics and cost. What is your feeling on this, as a designer?
Unless…vinyl windows are now resistant to this discoloration? I don’t know. I would ask a window manufacturer, but I am sure that they will say that THEIR product won’t discolor. I am not sure that I can rely on their word. What is your experience or your knowledge with regards to this?
In case you don’t know what I’m talking about with regards to discoloration – I’m in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, so perhaps the discoloration that I’m talking about is unique to this area.
Thanks,
Andrea

I recently bought a brick townhome in historic Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. The home is modern style red brick, (it was built in 1989 by a local architect) with many classical Victorian elements. The trim currently is white, including the front and garage doors. I’d like to keep all of the trim and the garage door white, but add a bright color to the front door to make it “pop” and accentuate the modernism of the home. Any suggestions on color? I was thinking either a bright yellow/green, a very bright, almost electric, purple blue, an orange red, or bright pink/orange.

We are replacing our original wood shake roof and want your opinion on what color and type of shingle. Our house is a redwood ranch style. We’ve tried several samples on our pool house roof ( Weathered wood slate by Hatteras; Autumn Blend by Presidential and Charcoal slate by Hatteras.)
They are either too plain or too busy. To maintain a cabin / lodge type look what do you recommend?

We will be repainting the house as well and would appreciate your recommendation for paint color and trim. Traditional Navajo Red or Brick by FloodPro Series.

You are not alone. A lot of us are stuck with white windows due to either cost or inheritance, and I’m advising people to work with them. Yes, ideally, we could match the windows to the trim. That would be perfect if you can afford it. I know exactly what kind of effect the environment has on white although I will say that white vinyl can be cleaned quite easily (although you have to do it more often than with non-white).

The bottom line is to keep all windows the same. If they’re going to be white, go with all white windows. If you change one, change them all. Otherwise the odd ball will really stand out.

If you go with white, just add some white to your landscape/accessories. That will make the white windows look intentional.

I’m so glad I found your site. I have a 1950 brick(reddish/brown) 1 and half story home with a large off center front porch and 3 dormer windows. The trim, windows, and dormers are cream. The roof is brownish. I will try to attach a picture.
I have two questions. First, what color should I paint my front door? It is currently a wine color and the storm door is cream…problem is that the porch is deep(about 8 feet) and right now you can’t see the door…it looks like a black hole. I thought about painting it yellow/gold or cream. Second, I purchased 1 board & batten shutter for the window opposite the porch. I felt like the house needed something on that side. What color would you recommend for the shutter? I was thinking green, but then that would be the only green. I would LOVE any suggestions you may have!

Great idea! I like either the yellow-green as it is a nice complement to the brick color or the purple blue which is always dramatic, no matter what. I would avoid the different shades of orange since it may end up looking like you tried to match the brick and just goofed. The orange red would look quite traditional, a nice alternative to black for modern brick.

Whatever shade you choose, make it look intentional.
And I suggest that you add accessories/flowers in the same color to round out the look and take a little bit of the edge off the bold color.

Most of the lodge style homes I’m seeing now have metal roofs. Have you considered that? If you’re going with shingle, how about Burnt Sienna? It would blend with your current house color and although it’s busy (like weathered wood), it would look great. You could go with dark chocolate trim.

I do like the redwood for a lodge style home. It also looks great with dark pine trim.

I would use a nice rich cream for your front door. Since it’s dark on the porch, everything else will be too dark. And since your storm door is cream, just go a shade richer. Add color next to the front door with a big pot of orange flowers (you can try a brick red for the front door, but it’s still going to go black from the street).

As for the shutters, I would do a dark chocolate. It will go with the roof and the brick and will just finish off that side of the house.

I feel like I may have made a 30-year mistake on my shingle colour. Just built a brand new bungalow-style cottage this summer , and used James Hardie “heathered moss’ siding. It is a light, peaceful, moss-like green. I chose “dual black” shingles for the roof, as someone told me that black would look much better than brown. Since I don’t have a clue about colour, I chose the black. I think it looks okay but having NO perspective on colour, I find myself daily wondering if I made a mistake and should have gone with a colour in the brown scheme of things.

This is my first (and probably last building project) in my lifetime. I need encouragement – re the black, so I don’t dwell on this one depressing fact – did I blow it or is black perfectly okay!.

This is the easiest question I’ve had all day. You did not make a mistake with the black roof. That is a classic look that will never go out of style. What you need to do now is add more black to your house: mailbox, porch lights, anything metal should be black. Then spice it up with a hot color like coral or a cool color like lilac in your accessories: flowers, wreaths, pots, etc. You’re going to love your house!!

Thanks a million for your encouraging words. You have no idea how much this had been bothering me. I thought I was doomed.

Anyways, I would send a picture except I don’t know how, so will leave it at that.

Thanks again, Barb.

PS – After I left my question, I somehow lost your sight and so spent much time typing in promising keywords in Google search. After a few days, alas, I found you – and the super answer to my question. So double-phew!

Neither my builder nor architect could answer this question for me so I am hoping you can help. We are using a window with a bronze clad exterior and a white interior. Our plan was to use a white plantation shutter for window coverings. My question is how will this look from the outside? Do you think it will show through too much and clash with the dark bronze windows and dark brown trim of the house?

White anything in the windows, whether shutters, curtains, or shades, will contrast with your bronze windows and call attention to the windows themselves from the outside. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But if your bronze clad windows have mullions (grids dividing the glass), then the shutters will not only provide lots of contrast calling attention to the window, but also appear too busy from the outside. Too many cross-hatched lines.

So the answer is really it’s okay to have white in the windows as long as 1) you don’t mind looking at them from the street, and 2) you don’t have brown mullions in the windows (like 6-over-6 double hungs).

Another option: It’s not terrible to have brown shutters on the interior even with white windows as long as you have brown in your color scheme, and again don’t mind people noticing your windows. The contrast would need to look intentional. See photo.

I am in the process of putting up some new pictures and the following questions may seem silly but I struggle with the process of hanging pictures on my walls every time.

Is there an ideal height that pictures should be hung at that interiors decorators go by? I know it probably depends on ceiling height and picture size but I wasn’t sure if there were general guidelines or recommendations for hanging pictures.

Alos, should the picture frames in a room need to match one another (color and frame style)? In the bedroom, I have a large silver framed picture over the bed. On the opposite wall next to the dresser, I have two frames that are a bronze color finish. Should these be changed out to reflect one unified frame color or does it matter?

Hello Barbara,
Love this site, i have a delima. I have a long straight ranch with two visible doors from the street. (one is considered the front door the other the side ) It is boring white with hunter green shutters and doors. I cannot stand the hunter green, I love color. What would be your suggestions for new colors for the shutters and doors? I want my house to stand out in a tasteful manner.
Thank you
Sheila

We usually try to put the center of the picture about 60″ from the floor. That way an average-height person can look directly at it while standing.

Exception: Over the sofa you can hang it lower to make a grouping with the sofa. Also over a hall table, you can hang it lower as well, again to make a grouping with the table, lamp, and whatever else is there.

Another exception: In rooms where you’re always sitting (the dining room), you can hang the pictures a little bit lower. But generally, the 60″ rule works out very well. Just don’t let your tall husband hang the pictures or they’ll be in the stratosphere!

As for frames: the answer is, it depends. If you have a country or cottagey home with lots of different patterns and fabrics and interesting items to look at, then different frames are encouraged. But if you live in a stream-lined contemporary environment, then the style dictates that you should keep the color the same for all pictures in a particular grouping. It’s fine to have a different metal in a different grouping across the room. No big deal. But as I mentioned, a contemporary style is cleaner — fewer colors in the palette and less variety.

You might try the traditional black shutters and black “side” door and paint the front door a wonderful candy-apple red. That should get some attention and let people know which door is the main entry to the house. Two doors the same color can actually be more confusing.

Your advise on how high pictures should be placed on a wall does help. My husband and I are always at odds when it comes to this subject and yes, since he is taller than me, the pictures do have a way of being placed too high on a wall.

We bought this house a couple of months ago. As you can tell, the front of the house has no front door. I am trying to make the house look more inviting and interesting. I plan to have landscaping done, and I’m going to paint the bottom of the house the same color as the siding. I’m thinking about putting shutters up. Any suggestions for color of shutters? Any other suggestions? To view pictures go to http://smcconnelhouse.tripod.com/

I suggest painting the foundation a foundation color like a taupey gray, found in your gravel stones. That will ground the house. As for shutters, they’re not crucial since you have casement windows and they’re all different sizes. Shutters work best on houses with all the same sized windows or no color at all. Your roof provides a lot of color to the house in general so I wouldn’t worry too much about adding more. But, the landscaping needs some color and size and variety to match the scale of your large house. Spending the money there would be the way to go.

We just stained our hip roofed colonial Powdered Snow (Behr) which is white with a slight yellow undertone to warm it up. It has brightened the house which stands on a wooded lot up a slight hill. It used to be grey w/ black shutters and red door. There are 2 yellow houses across the street and on either side of us, one in tan; the other white with black door. We are separated from the white one by a small wooded lot.

I want to end up with a classy, elegant look so…

My husband and I can’t agree on colors for the trim and shutters. I love Ben Moore Annapolis Grey for the trim and to add depth to the cornices on the front of the house. This appears to be a tan-hued gray. My husband dislikes earth tones which he calls contemporary cliches. He favors blues which I dislike.

How about a compromise shade, Edgecomb gray (Ben Moore HC-173) that is lighter than the Annapolis grey but should provide some contrast with your house color. Then reserve the real contrast for the front door and shutters.

Of course there’s nothing like black or near black for a classic look, but you might consider a blue-black (a nod to your husband) as one option. The blue undertone will contrast nicely with the yellow in your house color. If you go in that direction (and the shutters are quite blue), then I might use the same color for the front door.

If you stay with black for the shutters, you can do anything for the front door, including the plum that you mentioned or a cranberry red, which would be really nice.

We recently purchased a brick four square built in 1913. It has dark red brick with mortar tinted a similar color as the brick. We will try to clean it this fall which should result in reddish-orange bricks and lighter mortar. Hopefully the stone around the windows will lighten up as well.

My neighbors also have brick homes – one has dark brown on its trim and the other uses taupe and dark green.

We are not sure how to approach the windows and trim. We do need to select a color for replacement sashes soon and there is a decent color variety from Custom Shield. Their colors match Sherwin Williams but we found Benjamin Moore colors that match too.

We can paint the sashes one color and the window trim another or keep all the windows and trim (and overhang brackets) the same color. We’re not sure which would be a better look.

We would like to do an historical color but are not fans of the creams or white. Were tans and taupes used in that period?

We also have a large oak door stained a dark brown. Unfortunately the previous owner painted the sidelights. We’d like the door and sidelights to stand out a little better and would like you thoughts about that as well.

Incidentally, the landscaping will likely change completely – more flowers for sure.

Hello. I recently had a new roof put on my house and now need to pick exterior paint to re-paint it. My new shingles are light grey in color. The are an architectural shingle and have about 3 different colors of grey that alternate. But the overall appearance as a whole from the ground is a very light grey look for the roof with some shingles slightly lighter and darker than others.

Could you please give me suggestions as to what exterior paint scheme for the house would match and look good with this shingle color? I am a single dude and have no and have no clue what paint color would be appropriate. Please help!!!!!

I have a question concerning painting a dining room that has a chair rail. Eventually, I will would like to have the lower half of the dining room wall wainscoted but that won’t be for awhile.

In the meantime, I am planning to paint the wall above and below the chair rail. I was originally going to paint the wall above the rail a light color (beige) and below a darker color (deep green). When I do the wainscoting, I plan on painting above it the deep green and have the wainscoting white.

I was thinking that since I will be eventually adding the wainscotting that maybe I could go ahead and paint the darker color above the chair rail and paint the lower half white. In your opinion would this option look okay or should I stick with my original plan of painting the light color above and darker below?

I also thought about painting above the rail a deep green and the lower half a deep gold color (not sure what BM color gold goes with BM Louisburg green??) since my room colors are green/gold/red/beige.

What an amazing resource! I have loved reading through your posts. We are painting our very first house and I am struggling with finding the perfect white and black. It is a classic colonial, very traditional. I love black shutters, white house, painted door, bright white trim – but feel faint every time I look through all the choices in the Benjamin Moore fandeck. Do you have favorite black/white combos to recommend? I like the idea of a slighty grey-ish, chalky black (e.g. BM’s trout gray, deep space, or wrought iron), and a slightly warm white. Mayonnaise is def. too yellow – any advice? Does the door have to be red or black? Could it be blue?
Thank you so, so much for sharing your gift with all of us!
Best, Catherine

For an historical four square, such as yours, the beauty is in the architectural details. To bring them out, four squares generally have four trim colors, all derived from nature since the original four square was an extension of Frank Lloyd Wright’s vision (embellishments from other styles have been added).

For your house, I suggest a primary trim color (tan would certainly work) for eaves, window trim, and porch, a secondary color for the window sashes (could be darker), a third for the window sills/architectural details along the eaves and porch (could be a contrasting color for accent), and a fourth for the porch ceiling (traditionally a light blue to reflect light).

Sticking with neutrals for the first two and adding a complementary color for the accent color will really make your house look spectacular without making it look like a gingerbread house. Just think nature when selecting your colors and you’ll be fine.

It’s fine to go ahead and paint the wall above the chair rail a deep green (as long as your ceiling is high enough to support the dark color. Crown moulding is always a plus since your eye goes to the top of the wall where the wall meets the ceiling anyway, and having that nice crown moulding there finishes off the room.)

As for below the chair rail, white is fine, especially if you plan to put white wainscoting in anyway. Having the wall white there will help you decide if classic white wainscoting is the way to go. Sounds good to me.

What do you think about China White? It’s mellow and slightly aged-looking and is very nice for older homes. It might give your new home a classic, been-around-for-awhile look. White dove also is slightly yellow but not as much (and as clear) as mayonnaise. I suggest getting samples and trying them out on the house to see the whites in various light. White will take on the color of the surroundings as well.

I like wrought iron of the blacks you mentioned. It’s not inky but softer, and again, gives that aged quality which I think you’ll want.

As for doors, red is the classic. Black is also very traditional but only if you add color somewhere else. A rich blue door would also work — not as warm as the red or as classic as the black, but with a black and white house, you have lots of options for the door. Again, try it out first (even on a piece of cardboard), hang it on the door, and go out to the curb and look back. You’ll know instantly whether the cooler blue, the formal black, or the warmer red is the look you’re after.

Barbara thanks for your reply to me earlier to my question as to what exterior paint color would look good with light grey architectural shingles. I looked out Jamestown blue and it looks great. White trim will look good with it. But could you tell me what color I should paint my exterior shudders to go along with the jamestown blue and white trim please? I really appreciate your advise! Thanks again.

I need your help deciding what color of siding and roof I shoud choose to go with my red brick. I currently have dark hunter green shutters and front door, but I am not attached to that color and can change them as well if neccessary. Some of my house has stucco exterior (the breezeway and the back of the house), and I would prefer not to have to paint that. It is currently a cream that matches the current asbestos siding. You can view several pics of the front on this link.

We have a rectangular one story grey brick home – mid range grey. The roof is charcoal black. We have a black storm door on the front door. We are going to paint the trim, shutters, and doors. We’ve been going around about the color and are still not having any luck. We are not going to use white or a light grey for the trim due to mildew concerns. When I say trim I mean soffits, fascia, and what I call eyebrows – a half circle above the front door and windows. There is no trim around the windows. I read somewhere that shutters look good painted like the roof. Do you have any ideas regarding colors?

I would stick with medium gray for the trim to match the brick. Black shutters will be fine. Then you can pick a vibrant warm color like a dark raspberry or a burnt orange for the front door. Also take the opportunity to add colorful flowers and pots to your front step as the focus will really be on the front door area since the rest of the house is gray. Play up that whole front entryway for the much needed pizzazz.

Thank you so much for you expertise!!! You are so brilliant when it comes to this stuff.

One question though…the siding doesn’t really come in a caramel? Do you know the colors of siding, they are all pretty standard….we are using Alcoa “Carved Wood” siding that is 5″ and the closest I can see to caramel would be…sandtone or maybe wicker? Which do you think would work best.

Also, I didn’t realize I had to pick fascia and soffit as well as gutter colors…what do you think? I think the trim on the windows is currently white, should I change it all to be caramel or keep the the white for contrast. What about the soffits and gutter colors?

Of the colors available (all lighter than a caramel), the sandtone is the best. It looks like it’s a shade darker than what you have now. I would stick with black shutters, door, and charcoal roof for a traditional look, but you can switch all black (and roof color) to chocolate brown if you want it a bit warmer. (Brown is the new black…)

I suggest almond for the soffets and trim to set off the sandtone but blend okay with the white windows (although white will be fine if you can’t change). Usint almond would make the whole look softer than using white for trim. Choose the sandtone for garage color.

My dilemma is that I have a two story colonial with the bottom portion a dark brown brick and the top portion has dark brown cedar siding. I would like to go with a maintenance free type vinyl siding but don’t know what color combination would be best. Can you help? Furthermore, I can send photos is you provide an e-mail.

I am trying to decide on a roof type and color for my dutch colonial, its in an older neighborhood. I posted pics of it and pics of houses with different types of roofs that I just started taking. I was one that asked about purple metal roof. If you get a chance to visit my facebook site and comment would be great…- Anne Mariehttp://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=43658&l=2392d&id=558967011

Hi Barbara!
Lov’n your blog. Would you please advise me on a color for my kitchen. The cabinets are white with brushed nickel hardware, the counter tops are white , and the backsplash from counter top to cabinets are white! It was like that when I moved in. I love earth tones, naturals, neutrals. Rest of home is very traditional, in bone, pale yellow, with burgandy, dark greens and lots of dark wood accents. The kitchen floor needs to be redone and there is wallpaper on the walls that I intend to take down and paint, but what color???? I’m clueless and usually when I’m clueless I just paint things white or off white, but in this case I can’t take anymore white.
Any help would be greatly appreciated,
Jasenta

I would be happy to look at a photos (you can send to bmeglis@yahoo.com). You have a couple of major choices: 1) keep the monochromatic brown look with top and bottom in the same color family (Autumn Tan with white trim); or 2) go with a different color altogether on the top part of the house (something like Weathered Moss with white trim).

If the budget allows, a burgundy metal roof would be spectacular on your house since your brick color tends more toward the purple than the brown. Hope that works for you!!

It’s a tough job to pick a roof for a Dutch colonial since the roof is so prominent. I would avoid anything with too much variegation (like the slate on your neighbor’s roof) since it will look too busy with the brick. Although charcoal gray is a sure thing (it’s very traditional for your house style even though it’s a bit boring), I love the idea of going with more color on the roof since it’s visually half the house from the front.

Just stick with a roof color, regardless, that’s the same hue value as the brick and you won’t chop your house in half. A roof color that’s too light will make the house look half its size.

How about something like a very soft green for the kitchen? Have a look at Camouflage (2143-40), which has an olive tone to it, or Fernwood green (2145-40), a little more mossy — both Benjamin Moore. Then you can accessorize with warm colors like orange, red, rust, brown and all the earthtones.

Would you please offer some suggestions on colors for my place?
I have a small townhouse. There’s a small entryway and hall painted a cool beige. Straight ahead is the kitchen. to the left is the LR and that is open to the DR, then the DR is open to the kitchen.

Right now, my LR is a light blue “Tudor Ice” (F&H), the DR is Gold-ish yellow above a chair rail that has cream below, the kitchen is deep salmon with cream cabinets and floors.

I was going for French country-but I’m getting tired of the colors not really “flowing” from one room to the next and want something more harmonized. Right now I have off-white carpeting in the LR and DR (want to change that to dark wood but can’t afford it now). I am thinking of putting a ginger color on the walls in the LR/DR-bottom of chair rail-and changing the kitchen walls to warm taupe. what do you think? I like warm, harmonious colors with lots of white.

What other color combos would work?

I have cool taupe sofa, loveseat and recliner in the LR, and dark mahogany woods.

Barbara, Barbara, Barbara…I just checked out the BM paint chips and I am love, love, LOVING the colors you suggested! THANK YOU!! They are great! So great in fact I haven’t yet decided which one to go with, I like them both so much.

I think you’re right. Painting each room in your small townhouse a color that is distinct from the adjoining room colors chops up the space. To pull the original color scheme together, you would need to bring salmon into the LR/DR and ice blue and gold into the kitchen. It’s a tall order for a small townhouse.

Your idea to pick more neutral harmonious tones for your walls in the public spaces is a good one. It will make the space feel larger and create better flow. Your neutral furniture will fit in perfectly and you can focus on adding color in your accessories. Feel free to bring in those blues and salmons that you had before but just in pillows and other items that can be moved around or switched out with the seasons.

We are replacing the roof on our 2 story home, which is all white siding. I have had a lighter shade of blue shutters for many years and am considering changing shutter colors & roof color. We have wrought iron posts on our front porch, that may present a problem in itself.

I guess my first step is to choose a color for the shutters that would look nice with white siding. I saw an almond color that I liked, but that probably would not work with the wrought iron posts. I am considering replacing the wrought iron with some plain white column posts.

An all-white house just calls out for some contrast, both in your roof color and shutters/door. Personally, I love the wrought iron posts with the white siding. White columns might just get lost. I suggest either a traditional black for shutters and roof (giving you creative license for a vibrant front door color) or another dark color like navy for the shutters with a charcoal roof. That combination isn’t quite as traditional and might be a little more appealing if you’d like a fresh look.

White gives you lots of options for color combinations — you can be very creative. But my only caution is to provide some contrast so the house does not resemble a ghost.

Thanks so much! I have been looking at a Navy color for shutters with a darker roof, but just was not sure if the black wrought iron would look odd with navy blue shutters. We have a very heavy wrought iron security storm door (black) which my husband refuses to let me replace with a clear one, so you would be able to see a beautiful colored door!

Thanks again! You are very helpful and I am so glad I ran across your blog.

We are redecorating post-hurricane Ike, predominant colors pale blue and light/seafoam green, traditional furniture and Art Deco/Nouveau (think old 30s/40s movies)–our friend has offered us beautiful Eastlake furniture, a settee and 2 chairs. that goes with this 20s Eastlake Queen Anne house but the offered furniture is currently covered in salmon pink upholstery–any suggestions in different price ranges, high to low, to make it fit in with our blue/green color scheme, which we love?

Hi,
My Cape is painted Cottage red with a white trim that has a little yellow/cream to it. Our front door is a thermatru steel door with 2 side lights. The side lights are painted the trim color with the door painted a Hunter green. I’m thinking of installing a full view storm door. Should I use white or green?

I am exhausted from poring over paint colors and hope you can lend some guidance. The house is about 100 years old with a prominent green roof, black ironwork around the front porch and down the steps and a black lamppost in the front yard. For the larger areas of the house, I am thinking of using either BM putnam ivory, white sand or gentle cream. Do you think one of these colors would be a good choice for the green roof and can you offer any suggestions for the color of the porch floor and steps? I was thinking of a darker version of one of the colors listed above. Should the front door and shutters be painted black or the same color as the porch floor?
I hope you can answer soon – I have to paint on Saturday!

Dear Ms. Meglis,
We have a stucco “French provincial” with a steep, multi-peaked hipped, roof. The house is surrounded by tall palm trees (in Atlanta), and we would like have a tropical or “beachy” look. It is now painted an almost white/off white color with brown architectural shingles. We would like to paint the house in either a peach or coral color with white trim.
I would like to replace the roof with a metal one, at the same price as shingles. I would like to go with a natural, galvanized, metal roof…but my wife says she has never seen a stucco house with a metal roof, and is concerned about the roof color and style change to a metal roof.
Do you every see stucco houses with metal roofs, and what color would you suggest for the roof?

I’m not sure what the furniture upholstery looks like, but salmon is a terrific accent color to your blue/green color scheme. The colors are opposite one another on the color wheel so they bring out the best in each other.

If the upholstery is just too awful, you can always have it recovered. Pricey though. Around here it would cost probably about $1000 plus the cost of the fabric to have the settee and two chairs done.

Next bet: Slipcovers in white. Look at catalogues like LLBean or Lands’ End for high-quality slipcovers that are washable. If you have a local seamstress who can make custom slipcovers, that of course is ideal. You’ll love the white with your blue/green scheme.

With your color scheme, it’s kind of a toss-up. Usually the full-view door matches the trim but since your trim is a little on the cream side, white might not work so well for you. Almond is available if that’s a better match.

The other option is to go with the green since it’s your front door color anyway. That might be a better option if you decide that the almond doesn’t work. Either way, I’m not crazy about the white if your trim is in fact cream.

The putnam ivory offers a little more color than the other two and will show up better on your house. Black shutters and door will look very nice. As for the floor color, you can never go wrong with a darker version (brown) since it will resemble natural wood. But don’t overlook dark green. Green is a common historical color, especially for trim and areas like porches so it will look great and will tie in the roof color as well.

I encourage you to spend a little time at these particular websites as they have quite a lot of info and options for your French Provincial roof.

http://roofingstore.ca/index.htm
Along with info on different types of roof options, particularly in the South, there is also a sidebar that talks about “other metal roofs” including architectural metal (that looks like slate and shingle).

There are so many colors and materials available right now for roofing that you have many more options than just the standard sheets of metal (which I would not use on your house). But here’s a photo of a metal roof that really makes a statement. I wouldn’t use the same color on your house, obviously, but I wanted you to see the roof lines. Metal roofs are not what they used to be.

Thanks so much for your reply! I love the “black green” that is so popular here in New Orleans. Would you help with one more thing ?? The trim and columns of the house will be white because the previous owner replaced the original windows with windows that have white vinyl trim. Should I just ask the paint store for a bright white with no undertones, or is there a particular BM white that would coordinate better with the putnam ivory and black shutters? Your help is very much appreciated!

Hello, I just found your blog and your answers to other people’s questions seem very helpful… I wonder if you could give us some advice.
We’re building a tiny house (12’x20′) that will have a set of french doors for the front doors. We have antique brass hardware that will be polished at first but we expect it will gain a patina over time.
We aren’t 100% sure about what the outside of the house will be (we’re paying for it as we go), but ideally we’d like to side it with old barn wood. I was reading your color suggestions for gray and you said black was a good choice. We were originally thinking some shade of dark red, but the black is intriguing to me. Any other suggestions?
Thanks so much, I really appreciate it.
(Pics of the house in progress can be found on our blog.)

Love your website!! So happens we are remodeling our living room and are ready to paint the walls. I am horrible at this!! We live on Long Island, within a mile from the water but we prefer log cabinish vs. nautical theme. We had the fireplace re-stoned in earth tone stoneface (large flat panel tv going above the fireplace, black trim). The floors were re-stained in Jacobean (dark brown) and we just ordered beige-like sofa (little darker than just beige), loveseat and big chair. They came with 11 throw pillows, 6 dark brown (chocolate) and 5 patterned with bits of brown, tan, dark green/moss, dark gray and a glimpse of a purplish color. Our coffee table is a georgous trunk like table in dark wood.

When you walk in the room, the first thing you see ahead of you is the bay window wall (displays the front yard ~1/2 acre, some trees) and then the fireplace would be on your right (window to the left of the fireplace), and larger sofa will be to the left (window above it). I also plan to get two chairs and a small table in the middle to put in front of the bay window, so I have accents to come. So, what colors do you think we should get for the walls? Chairs? and area rug (should the rug be a solid color)? Should the fireplace wall be darker than the other three, or the bay window wall? Right now our dining room is dark blue which leads into the living room, but I cannot wait to change that color too (plan on putting used baby grand in there). For the living room, we were thinking maybe a greenish (although our bedroom is light moss). I guess gray is too sad. The foyer is already reddish. I don’t know if I could do purple, depends. And my husband is sort of anti-beige walls. Please help!!!

I have a BM deck, so number away with suggestions, if you like. White trim? Any particular kind of white? Are fake tree/plants in (have cats-might eat real)? What’s a good pick? OMG, thank you sooooo much. We are ready to paint tomorrow, furniture is being delivered Friday!! If I like your ideas, I am definitely donating and may retain you for the other five rooms left.

We are building a new home and wondering which color window would look best for the windows. We are thinking of cashmere or bronz. THe house is old brick with a combination of light red, orange, brownish type and some light stucco. It is a fench country style and would love your recommendations. Thank you

Hi Barbara.
I am new so I hope I post this correctly! Our home is a 2-story with yellow/cream vinyl siding, a charcoal roof, white trim around the windows and hunter green shutters. We recently remodeled our front porch–removed the siding and outdated green posts and replaced it with with vinyl railing. It has completely opened up our home. We also removed huge green shrubs that were completely covering our foundation–only to expose a blah white cinderblock foundation. Here are our intentions and we cannot decide on a color scheme. Our siding is in good shape so we will be keeping that. We want to cover the foundation in a brown fieldstone style. (Most of the neighboring houses are either brick or stone) Our dilemma is–we just purchased a beautiful fiberglass entry door with sidelights (it has brass caming). We are torn what color to stain the door, as well as how to coordinate that with the shutters. I would love to change the color of the shutters. As for the door, we would prefer to stain it than to paint it. Please help with suggestions! I am leaning toward painting the shutters a deep, rich brown (with a slight red cast to it) and then staining the door a brazilian rosewood. When we get to choosing the stones, we could then tie those deeper colors in and mix with lighter colors. BUT, what are your thoughts?? We are definitely open to suggestions!
Thank you!!!

Sorry for the long delay. I’m not sure what you mean by black. Is it the roof color I was talking about in the post?

If you’re talking about siding color, I love the idea of red with a black roof and white trim. Since the house is small, there’s no way to make it look big so you should “embrace” the charm (as they say).

Since your roof is charcoal, you might consider black or slightly off-black shutters to tie in with the roof. Then go ahead with the rosewood door color (beautiful) and the field stone for the foundation, mixing in a little gray with the brown and red tones, again to tie in the roof color.

Hi Barbara:
My sister has all baby furniture in white. I also want to incorporate dark brown furniture into the baby’s room but I am afraid that the styles are going to clash. What are you thoughts in trying to make the room cohesive?

I am going to paint a small bedroom that I use as a home office. I’m thinking of using Benjamin Moore Wythe blue with an accent wall in an orange-ish color such as Bronze Tone. I would put some African artwork that I have on the accent wall. Would those colors work together? Thanks.

You could incorporate both the brown and white in your color scheme using a dark chocolate on an accent wall in the room with light pink, light blue, or lime for bedding and accessories. That way all the furniture will fit right in.

Keep in mind that the baby will stay a baby for only a short time. Then you’ll have to re-do the room anyway. If the mismatched furniture really bothers you, why not paint them to coordinate?

I panicked and hired a woman from the local paint store to come help me pick colors last Sunday. It was a bit too late in the afternoon and my fear that we were picking colors without enough daylight came true. We went with HC-35 Powell Buff on three walls and Aura Kona on the fireplace wall and when I saw it for the first time the morning after my brother painted it I’m afraid it’s way too yellow for my liking, even though the chip doesn’t really look yellow. The Kona wall is okay, but the only other color I can think of for the other walls (if we keep the Kona), is a tan. But, then I think the walls will swallow the taupe couches. Ugghh. I think it’s the darn throw pillows that I am trying to match that is screwing me up. Maybe I should just get new ones and re-do the whole thing.

I don’t know what to do. The woman that came said to go lighter because the windows face east (and north and south), but there’s plenty of light in there during the day. I think it needs to be warmer looking. Bottom line is that I could still use your help!

I like the kona fireplace wall color. That sounds like it works as it picks up the dark brown in the throw pillows and floor. But the “taupe”/tan of the couches sounds like it might get either lost in the Powell Buff wall color or actually fight with it if the walls are on the yellow side. (I love Powell Buff as a color but it really matters how it looks in your room with your light and your furniture.) So…

A couple of thoughts: I know it would mean repainting three walls, but have you considered a lighter/medium version of what you described as a dark green/moss in the throw pillows? Something like, depending on the actual green we’re talking about, Nantucket gray (HC-111), Camouflage (2143-40), or Dry sage (2142-40)? A backdrop of soft mossy green will allow your taupe furniture to pop off the walls, look fabulous with the brown accent wall, and really draw your eye to the beautiful view out the window.

If repainting is just out of the question (understandable unless you’re actually paying your brother), then you can add the creaminess of the wall color to your palette of accessories and incorporate that color into an area rug as well. But the sofas will still blend into the walls unless you’ve arranged them in front of the fireplace wall so the kona is behind them.

Third option: Repaint the rest of the room a lighter version of the kona. That way, the “beige” will not be too yellow but rather a light cocoa color that will look better (perhaps?) with your furniture.

If you want to send a photo to bmeglis@yahoo.com, I would be happy to get more specific.

Instead of the bronze tone for your accent wall, you might try the next one down on the paint chip: Soft pumpkin 2166-40. The soft gray blue-green and the soft orange will be the same “hue value” and will blend nicely and the accent wall will not overwhelm the small room.

I wish I had found your site 9 months ago…We began a full remodel and my designer has turned out to be a complete flake.
I need your help with my exterior colors. I’ve been feeling my way through the whole process. We live in San Diego and are remodeling our 1940’s cottage. I’m keeping the integrity of the cottage style…going with a more coastal theme (not sure which coast). I chose white aluminum clad windows in a pinch, decisions had to be made quicker than I thought. The siding I chose is a Cabot slate gray cedar shingle, very dark. The roof is a synthetic slate about the same color. We also have a bit of brick veneer siding. I also matched the trim to the windows. I am going to send you a couple of pictures today.
My quandary is what color to paint the door as well as the shutters. We also have a granny flat in the back over the garage so there is a 1 1/2 foot piece of trim dividing the top to the bottom. The top is the slate gray shingle and the bottom is a light gray stucco. I am giving a lot of info here… so let me no if it is confusing. I have a few ideas of my own…but not nearly convinced of them. I thought a possible gray beige Dunn Edwards “wooden peg”. I originally wanted to paint the door a very darkish teal, but shutters in that color are not going to make it. HELP! I’m overwhelmed.

Got your photos. First of all, I would not bother at all with shutters. Dark houses with white trim look far better without shutters, especially if you’re going for a coastal look. Also, your windows, in some cases, do not have much space for shutters. I would simply cross them off the list.

As for the door, since shutters are nolonger an issue, you can pick almost anything you like. From the dark teal for a coastal feel to something like Ben Moore’s Warm sienna (1203) that would pick up the color in your brick and the gutters. Perhaps that’s a more predictable color so feel free to stay on the cool side with the mix of slate blues and teals. Equally good and more contemporary.

I love the crisp white trim. You’ve done a great job making color choices!

Firstly, sorry for the double-post. I guess my original post was in the wrong place… you can ignore it!

I just love your site! I posted awhile ago about decorating my new home. We have tan/yellowish walls and I put a chocolate brown sofa and loveseat in that room. We have a glass top coffee table with a brown leather base, as well as a brown leather ottoman. I guess you see the theme here!
I want to break up the brown-ness with a rug. What do you suggest?
Thanks, and I hope you’re “good busy”!

With your neutral palette, you have several options depending on whether you tend more toward modern or traditional styling. Right now you have kind of a masculine monochromatic look and you need to soften that up a bit and the best place to start is the rug.

For a modern look, choose a rug with a large graphic design and lots of bold color. Once you find the perfect rug, you can pull some of the color out of it onto pillows for the brown furniture and artwork for the walls.

For a more traditional, “men’s club” look, check out rugs with more detailed “Oriental” designs (you don’t have to buy an expensive rug to get the same look).

As for a color scheme, look around the rest of your house and decide what colors you love already. You can pair just about anything with brown: from orange to light blue to purple/gray/silver to red to sage/lime and of course cream. But to create flow within and between the rooms in your public space, try to pick a palette of about 3-5 colors and move them around from room to room.

Love your site and what you are doing. We live in a southern state with very hot summers. After weathering several hurricanes we have decided to go with a metal roof. I would have loved the brown but after considering current environmental and energy conservation concerns; I choose to match the roof to the house color. I have attached photos of the light cream color. We are adding garage doors and shutters across the entire front of the home. My color question is with the brick being rather light to medium should I go with a dark brown or stay with cream garage doors. Should the shutters and garage doors be the same color?

I didn’t see any photos attached, but from your description it sounds like the siding part of the house is light cream with some light to medium colored brick. Since you live in the South, I would choose a color from your brick that’s not too dark. You want a little contrast with your house and roof color, but not so much that the shutters are all you see. A soft medium brown or even a rusty coral (if that is in the brick) would be very nice for both your shutters and garage door. (Since your house is cream, I would put a little color on the garage door instead of matching it to the house.)

What a wonderful website. I am so happy to find someone like you who really loves color and realizes how terribly important all of these choices are! Was up until 2 am searching for paint palettes that would work for my project.

A big project has been tossed into my lap – our beach house was damaged by Hurricane Ike. My 84 year old mother in law wants to update while we repair. So I must get a color scheme and flooring/paint plan down very quickly. The budget has to be pulled together in just a few weeks.
A few things must stay. Here is what I have to work with:
2 story beach house on stilts – outside was just redone 5 years ago – it is a beautiful tan siding with white/cream trim and a paprika colored shingle roof – very nice outside – natural deck – weathered to a gray color – white hand rails, etc. Outside is terrific! Two huge decks that cover the entire front of the house overlooking the bay. Gorgeous landscaping – and magnificient view.

“Mom” would like to keep white walls and cabinetry. I’m thinking that’s great – would like to consider 3 white shades – walls, trim, and ceilings. Scraping the ceiling to flat surface and maybe a blueish white up there for a serene feeling

We have a beautiful chunky expensive rattan sectional – kind of honey brown color – cushions to be recovered. (I’m thinking recovering in a sunbrella fabric – maybe offwhite or even a stripe – haven’t gone there yet.)
Then a white custom made oval dining table and parsons table / dining chairs are cane back very contemporary but simple.

Thinking dark bamboo or cork floors for contrast with the white walls – the main floor has the kitchen/eating/family room all together so one floor would work best there. Then a hallway, bath and 2 bedrooms on that same floor.

Maybe painting the 70s fireplace a charcoal/brown gray to make it stand out architecturally – why fight it? Then remove green carpet from spiral stairwell leading main floor to bedrooms up. Leaving exposed concrete and sealing it so it shimmers in the sunlight.

Changing out all doorknobs and hardware to brushed pewter.

Would like to accent with metals and aqua (my sister in law’s request) which may lend a peaceful air.

I’d like to pull in the aged color or the deck and make it very calm and peaceful – but have enough color so the house feels alive.

This home has been in the family for 25 years and has been meticulously maintained. We spend some of our happiest times there so I want it to be chic, handsome, practical and most of all fun and relaxing to visit.

I’m so looking forward to hearing if you have any ideas. I can send pictures later in the week.

Thanks for visiting my site. You have taken on a huge project and it sounds like you’re well on your way with the palette. I would be very happy to help you but would love to see some photos. Then we can zero in on actual paint colors.

You can include a link here to a photo web site or you can email the photos directly.

my 12-year-old daughter has fallen in love with the Liz Claiborne “Renee” quilt and shams and wants to have her bedroom painted with the same colors. she thinks she wants the chocolate brown for the ceiling, and the bright pink on one accent wall, and the pale pink on the other 3 walls. Creamy trim — all Sherwin Williams colors. Is this paint scheme going to “work” — or should we/she re-think this?
we have 8-foot ceilings – standard room size.
what effect will a chocolate brown ceiling have on the room?

The chocolate ceiling could have two possible effects in the room: 1) it could make the room feel a little like an oreo cookie with the brown on the bed and brown on the ceiling with the creamy pinks in the middle; or 2) the dark ceiling may give the illusion of space (much like a dark night sky) when you enter the room. Hard to tell from my vantage point. I suggest having your daughter paint a great big poster board in the brown paint and tape it to the ceiling. Then stand back and close one eye and visualize what the whole ceiling will look like brown. That might help.

Bottom line: If your daughter really loves the idea of a dark ceiling, then I would go right ahead and paint her dream room. I’m all for creating a space that kids can really call their own. And I LOVE your daughter’s sense of style. My son’s room (as per his request) has a dark gold ceiling and dark orange walls with huge maroon red circles scattered around the room. I have to say, it looks good. But it’s not my design; it’s his. And he loves it.

I had an accident and consequently are replacing my garage doors. I wanted to take the opportunity to possibly switch things up.
I love the look of wooden garage doors, but I don’t have a wooden front door. My stone is mostly cool colors (greys, maroons), but some warmer beiges and the stucco is a neutral beige with a cool grey trim.
The builder played off the maroons, and I have a dark brown/maroon front door, shutters, and even purplish garage lights. The original garage doors were a solid beige. With the way the exterior is, the garage is mostly surrounded by stone.
So my question…what are the exterior color rules? Can I do wooden garage doors, if so what color stain? If I do a wooden garage door, do I have to also replace the front door? Can I just repaint the front door and possibly get wood shutters? What are my options?
I could show you a pic of the front of my house if it would help. I sure ‘wood’ appreciate your help!
(great blog by-the-way)

A photo ‘wood’ be really helpful (sorry), but the quick answer is yes, you can have a wooden garage door in a dark (mahogany-like) stain and keep your maroon front door and shutters. I think that would look great!

I just finished painting my dining room wall above the chair rail BM Carrington Beige. For now, I want to leave the section under the chair rail white. The chair rail and floor molding is painted a glossy bright white.

BM has so many different whites to choose from with different undertones to them. I really don’t want to spend a fortunate on sample paints trying the find a white paint that will work.

Can you recommend some BM whites that would go nicely with Carrington Beige?

Also the upper part is painted in a flat paint. Should the lower half of the railing be done in flat also or would an eggshell finish look better?

hi Barbara
Not sure if you remember me ? I contacted you over the summer re: house colors .. we are building in Sutton Ma ..

I am now stuck on exterior door stain color

I picked Nantucket Grey (based on your recommendation 🙂 ) for the exterior house color
i am doing a barn red (red with brown tones ) for shutter
the garage is shingled with canyon (cabot house ) stain (brown )
we have a front porch with brownstone/lilac bluestone and other bluestones mixed in ) SOOO pretty
a copper roof overhang

i purchased knotty alder doors .. and need a stain color .. i really want the knots to show
the painter wants to use a minwax stain

i liked english chestnut but my father feels it will be too dark?? ( not show the knots ? )
the other on my list is provencial and there is a new one called gunstock ..
do you have a color suggestion for me ? need to know this by 12/23 or there abouts ..

Sounds like you’ve made incredible progress on your house. As for the doors, the stains will look different depending on the wood and it’s really best to try them out first before committing yourself. But of the ones you mentioned, I like the English chestnut and the gunstock for their red undertones. The provincial is very old-world. No red at all. I really don’t think the English chestnut would be too dark as long as you don’t leave the stain on too long or do too many layers of stain. But a sample board will tell all. I highly recommend it.

i am doing my cabinets a color called “autumn” which is a warm gold.. with my islands being a dark chocolate “espresso ”

i have alot of wood beams in the kitchen ceiling.. i need to decide whether the fireplace should be stone or brick ( the bricks we picked are called olde mystic

in the family room is an 18 ft stone fireplace .. my husband thinks the kitchen fireplace (arched) should be brick..likes the color it would bring to the kitchen

i am not sure if it should be stone for a more lodgy feel ?? i realize we are in NEW ENGLAND and both styles are acceptable… so not trying to go totally adirondack but also def NOT sturbridge village country either ..

I’m trying to get a visual of your kitchen/family room area. I like the brick choice and it would definitely bring color to the kitchen. But brick does have that early New England vibe — we’ve been ripping it out and plastering over it all over the place as people move toward stone and away from brick. But your house sounds different. Stone will work — we know that. It’s a question of whether or not you like the brick and it’s not too much brick. I would not put it in the kitchen simply to add color — you can do that other ways. I would only use the brick in the kitchen if you love it.

That’s probably not too helpful but send a photo if you want me to be more descriptive in my answer. Sounds like a great house so far.

Thank you for the White Down color suggestion. I plan on painting over the holidays and that will be one room I will be doing.

One more question. I am having a very hard time determining a nice color for the master bathroom. I just painted the master bedroom BM SayBrook Sage and love it.

The master bathroom has several large windows that face south/west so it gets plenty of sunlight. Originally I was going to go with a gold/yellow (waterbury cream / standish white) but I’m afraid those colors will make the room too bright. Plus someone told me that yellow is not a good choice for a bathroom since it tends to wash out a person’s skin. I’m not sure if this is true or not.

I also did color samples of shellburne buff/dunmore cream but these had too much of green undertone that they did not look good in the room at all during the evenings. During the day they would okay.

I tried peanut shell/acron yellow samples and those were okay. They didn’t wow me.

I have one picture right now in the room which I really like. It has a wide range of colors – sage green, mossy greens, rusty reds, tan/light browns, cream, deep golds and pale yellows, and some grayish deep blue. The bathroom cabinets are cherry. The countertop is a marble off-white. The shower and tub tile is cream with very light gold flicks in it.

I also was considering doing a focal wall in the bathroom. This would be the wall with the windows. The windows are higher up on the wall which is really nice to look out and see the blue sky, white clouds and trees in the distance. This is also the same wall that has the picture I like on it.

Could you recommend a few color choices that will go nicely with the sage bedroom and that will tone down the brightness in the bathroom?

How about a soft tan like yosemite sand AC-4 from ben moore to go with the picture but not bring too much yellow into the room. Powell buff has more yellow in it but it’s a really nice neutral — it might be just right for your room. Another nice neutral is fennel seed 1101 or boardwalk 1102. Hope one of those will work for you.

I am so glad I came across your site and hope that you can offer some advice on exterior color. We need your help!! The home we purchased is four sides brick except for a little cedar by the front door. The brick has a tint of orange to it mixed with a couple shades of brown. The shutters are currently painted an orange rust color to match the brick, which I absolutely hate. The front door and the cedar beside it are painted a muted shade of brown and the roof is a dark chocolate color. We are at a total loss as far as what our options are for shutter, door and cedar colors. We want the orange to be gone-and possibly the cedar!!! I have provided a link so that you can view a shot of the front of the house. Any color advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for you time.

Your house is color-coordinated, but it has a rustic look and it sounds like you’re tired of the palette anyway. I suggest lightening up the porch area by painting the cedar and trim a light neutral taken right from your brick. Have a look at Ben moore’s Powell Buff HC-35, which might work really nicely, or another neutral. You might paint the porch floor dark chocolate or keep it as is. Then for the shutters, I would go with a really dark brown, almost black but not quite — black will also work since your front storm door appears to be black, setting a precedent. The dark shutters will dress up the house, coordinate with the roof, and offer some contrast from the brick. As for the front door, it’s hard to see behind the glass, but I like the idea of keeping it a brick red. Moving to the neutral/black scheme elsewhere will let you use a warm color on the front door. Just take it right from the brick and you’ll be all set.
See what you think.

I currently have a white single story house with large black shutters and red brick covering the bottom half of the house. The previous owners painted some of the brick black and white to match the wall/trim color! It looks really awful. I am trying to strip off the paint off the brick this weekend. I hope it works!

I want to change the main color of the house to taupe with white shutters and trim. I am also considering adding a red or burgundy door. Do you think this will work with so much of the house covered with red brick. If not, do you have any other color combination suggestions? I will send a picture to your e-mail address for your review. Thanks so much for your help!

Good idea to even out the brick color. Good luck with that! As for the main house color, the richer the better. Since the house is cut in half visually, between the brick and the siding, painting the siding a deeper color like a deeper taupe or even a caramel, will make the house look more unified, bigger, and less chopped up. White trim is good, especially around the door, but I do like the dark shutters with your dark roof. (Not a big fan of white, but that’s me…)

If you paint the door red, make sure it’s a red-brown to match the brick. A really nice look. But it’s tricky to get the door right since anything off will really clash horribly. Just make sure the red is on the brown side, not too tomatoey, and you’ll get it.

looking for the perfect pink , cream and gold for my daughter’s bedroom in the new house … she wants a romantic/ victorian feel to her room… i just bought a color wheel and she has some flagged…wondering your thoughts ?

I suggest a pink that has quite a bit of brown in it for a nice romantic feel. So look in the brown section of the color wheel and move toward pink. Just stay away from the clear pinks that scream bubblegum.

Hi, I am desparately needing advice on what color roof to get and what color to paint my house if I decide to change current color scheme.
The house is two story with a very steep roof. It is a black roof with a white brick. However, there is wood siding on both sides and siding in front and back window that is painted black along with garage doors and front door, garage door and back door and trim and gutters are all black!The front of the house looks great but the back is just black with no contrast and the sides are faded black and need repainted. We had alot of damage from Ike and are fixing things slowly. The whole roof needs replaced and we are depating on changing from black shingles to a weatherwood with black and painting the siding and garage doors a light neutral color. what are your thoughts? We like the black and white look but it is too much black -the old owner got carried away I think. Thank you so much

I am moving *(renting) a new apartment with my husband. We have a great big window in our L shaped living room dining room area which will be adorned with our curtains which are a sheer gold pair in back, with West Elm Morroccan sheer Linen and gold in front. There is a total of about 6 cutains on this window, so it takes up a big part of room. There is another window with same treatment.

I was thinking of painting the walls Benjamin Moores “thundercloud gray” and the ceiling a warm color, but Im not sure what. I was thinking a gold, but we have a gold natural fiber rug and I dont want everything to match too much.

Our couch, chair and ottoman are a dark almost burgundy leather. *(husbands, of course). Our TV console is a honeyed dark wood. I also have a pair of mirrored moroccan-ish sconces. I’d love to add some turqouise somewhere, maybe in the inlet where I will put the sconces or in back of our book case, which is white.

My main objective is to make the room feminine and bright, but not themey. (“moroccan” or “ethnic”)

We have a few white vases, etc as decoration. I agree with you that turquoise and white is beautiful, but played out.

I think the thundercloud may read quite gray-blue in your room, but as long as you have enough light, it should be fine. Another option is to go with a warmer gray like ice formation (973) with a natural wicker (950) ceiling color. Keeping the walls and ceiling neutral will allow you to bring in a dramatic accent color like turquoise and have it be quite effective with the rest of your decor. Not too themey at all. (Painting the WALLS turquoise would be themey — but you’re fine.)

wondering what is your fav ben moore gray for a diningroom and what would then transition into a foyer ?

i have villeroy and boch china in a pretty yellow/white with black toille pastoral scenes .. thought a pewter might look nice on walls? i also have a coffered ceiling and wainscotting .. i am guessing i do the ceiling just the trim color ??
i hope to see you this week 🙂 >> in the meantime any suggestions ?

I am so happy I stumbled upon your website. I really need your quick opinion. I just bought an orange house. I think the previous owners were trying to be historical in their choice. It wouldn’t be so bad if the house was in Old Sturbridge Village.

When we moved in, all the neighbors came over and told us how much they disliked the color. We dislike it but we don’t have the money to re-paint. We were thinking about doing some black shutters to “tone” it down. When I told the person that lives across the street, she said that it would look like the Halloween House. It is a pumkiney-orange colonial with a dulled copper roof and cream trim and door.

Do you think dark grey shutters would be better? (Maybe we should tell the neighbors to mind their own business and go with the bright purple shutters…ha!)

My parents painted our house that color one year when I was away at camp. What was worse was that it had green shutters. Truly the pumpkin house. That said, I really don’t think your house color is so bad. Pumpkin is a hot color (don’t your neighbors know that??). And it really approaches Ben Moore’s Richmond Gold, which is a wonderful historical color. You have a couple of choices. Either go with a dark chocolate or black (since you already have wrought iron) and forget about your nosey neighbors — the house will look great — OR if the color really bothers you, go with cream shutters. Not my favorite as I really prefer a dark shutter on a house, but the cream would pop forward and the pumpkin would recede behind the cream and you would see less of it. Your choice. But I wouldn’t hesitate to put black shutters on your house. It’s really a very nice color combination. Very autumnal. The other thing you might consider is painting your front door a dark rusty red (on the orange side of red, not pink). That will round out the “adjacent color” scheme and put more emphasis on the front door than on the house color itself.

Hi Barbara,
Great site! I am in the process of trying to pick out paint colors for my entire home. Most of my home is decorated using tan/beiges, chocolate brown, and red, although my bedroom is chocolate brown and gold. I’d like the house, as whole, to flow from room to room, but am not sure how to achieve this with my paint colors.

I’m considering using a medium-toned gold in my bedroom, and continuing the next lightest shade (more of a beige with a slight gold hue) throughout most of my home. If using 2-3 shades of the same color paint, does it matter which rooms I choose to paint the lighter or darkest shade? Would using 3 shades be too many and cause the house to feel choppy?

Choose the lightest shade for your interior hallways and areas that don’t get much natural light. You can use the deeper, richer shades for wall color in rooms with lots of big windows.

Feel free to paint bedrooms and bathrooms colors that fit the personalities of the people living/using them. They are perfectly fine to stand alone in terms of style if they are not visible from the living room and front hallway (for example, if they’re upstairs). But using different shades from the same paint chip may ultimately feel like you’ve used just one color since the lighting will play tricks on the eye (areas in the shadows will look like you’ve painted a darker shade there anyway).

You can still achieve flow by choosing 3-5 different colors and mixing furniture and accessory colors between rooms. For example, using a palette of light blue, light green, and tan, you can achieve flow by putting green accessories in the blue room, blue accessories in the tan room, and tan accessories in the green room. You’ve used three completely different colors, but you’ve mixed furniture and accessories between them creating flow. And you’ve avoided using just one color strip that might look like everything is painted beige.

See what you think. But to answer your question directly, no, using 3 shades of the same color will not make the house look choppy. It will all look like one color.

We are in a quandry as it is time to paint our exterior. We have a traditional style home with brick in the middle third surrounding the door. The brick is orange terra cotta. Roof is grey. Our current colors are off-white siding with black shutters and door. We were thinking of beige siding with brown shutters to update the look. When it started to go up the siding looked too peachy and the shutters too yellow? Any suggestion for colors?

How about keeping the beige siding even though it looks a little peachy (it probably goes well with the brick??), and then go back to black or a charcoal/gray for the shutters. I think the brown shutters with the gray roof might not work so great.

If you’ve already scrapped the peach siding, then try a taupe color, which is less yellow than beige and really nice with your brick. I’d still stick with white trim and black/gray shutters.

Thanks so much for this site – it’s a terrific resource! We are renovating an early 1900s Arts & Crafts house, and trying to figure out exterior paint colors. I’ve sent a picture to your email address (it’s impossible for me to describe it well) but we were thinking about a greyish green on the main part of the house – perhaps BM Nantucket Gray? And a light cream/warm white on the trim and shutters – BM Acadia White or Navajo White, maybe? With accents of some dark red to bring out some of the architectural details – something like BM Hadley Red. And perhaps a darker version of the greyish green on the underpart of the roof to make the rafter tails stick out more – Gloucester Sage?
What do you think of these combinations? Will the main part of the house be too light/dark/drab? It’s pretty drab at the moment, so trying not to make it dull. (That said, it is surrounded by yellow and blue houses, so trying to avoid those colors.) Your opinion is greatly appreciated – thanks so much!

I love your color choices, but have a look at Ben Moore’s rustique (AF-275 from the Affinity Exterior Color Collectives) instead of Hadley Red. A little more rust and not so much burgundy. I think the combination of colors is terrific.

We recently knocked down our old Barn and are rebuilding.
The barn is about 20 feet from the house. The house was built in 1839 and is a farmhouse. We painted our house benjamin moores hawthorne yellow with white trim. The front door is painted black. Just think that painting the barn yellow may be too much. Do you have any suggestions for complimentary colors for the barn. I really would appreciate any help you could give us.

Anything BUT yellow would work. I love a rich dark red barn regardless of the house color. And it’s good to have the barn and house different colors anyway. You could use dark green or even brown, I suppose, but there’s nothing like red for a barn. Just make it really dark red. Stunning!

I am starting to paint the first level of my home. It’s an open floor plan through the kitchen, dining room and living room so all colors should flow. I am thinking of painting the kitchen and dining room the same color called ‘Coconut Milk’ from Valspar (an off white beige cream color). The living room color will be an light green called ‘Frosty Pine’ from Olympic and the couch color is a walnut/chocolate brown. What color drapes would you suggest? I’m looking at silk or something with some texture.

I’d try dark chocolate drapes and see how you like that look. The dark brown will pull all the rooms together. Bring some green into the kithcen/dining room and some cream into the living room, and you’ve got your “flow.”

hi barbara
i tried emailing you (privately ) with finished fireplace photos but all were bounced back .. not sure if you changed your email ? if so can you email me back and i will send out the photos ..they came out great

also .. i am still working on my interior paint colors .. we had a delay so it bought me more time
do you like the ben moore revere pewter as a common area color ? diningroom/foyer.. maybe going into tthe great room and upstairs loft?

i wanted the diningroom to be some sort of a grey .. this revere pewter is a greenish/tan/grey … wondering if its good choice to spin other room colors off of ..

Too many photos in my inbox backed everything up. Sorry about that. I have purged it and would love to see your photos.

I like the revere pewter. Very sophisticated and wonderful with dark woods.

As for moving to the hallway, as long as there’s plenty of light, it would be fine. But if the hallway is dark, the gray will only get grayer. Moving to an edgecomb gray might work better. Still gray but with a touch more warmth to compensate for less light. Just a thought.

Hi Barbara,
What a great site! I’d be glad to donate to anyone who can give me helpful suggestions for a dilemma I have with my house.

We have a two story traditional home with very orange brick on the lower half. The upper half is wood, but there is a wide wing off to the right that is also orange brick. The roof is a natural weathered wood.

Given the orange brick, I’m wondering what color paint would look nice on the siding, the shutters, and the door. We have double front doors and they very noticeable. I’ve thought of cream for the siding and dark green (not sure specifically of what shade) for the doors and shutters. The shade of cream in particular is questionable, because the orange brick doesn’t seem to complement any shade. I’ve looked at so many shades of cream and light tan colors that I’m more confused than before I began the process. If you recommend cream, what shade of cream? (There are thousands of shades.) Also, would you recommend white trim with cream or cream for all of the siding, including trim? Thanks in advance! Lisa

How about something a little unexpected: Have a look at Ben Moore’s Kingsport gray (a rich gray olive HC-86) for the siding color above the orange brick. It’s a sophisticated green so it won’t resemble leaves on a pumpkin. Then go with something like Bone white for the trim color. It’s not too yellow but creamy enough to offset the orange. I suggest Black for the door and shutters for a traditional, classic look.

Hi Barbara,
I live in Dallas, Tx. I really love your website and was hoping to get some of your great advice on house colors. We are in deperate need of curb appeal. Our brick house currently has vibrant red shutters and front doors, with white trim, white gutters, and white on the porch around the front doors. The brick has shades of tan, brown, black, and salmon (not very pretty). We do not have any shingles. The roof is gray but appears to maybe have some brown in it. We won’t be able to change the roof anytime soon.

I would love for the house to be more elegant and stylish, but have no clue what I doing! I’d love to bump it up a notch.

I would go with nearly black or dark charcoal gray for your shutters. That will really dress up the house. Same with the front doors. Then see about switching out the black handles for nickel (or silver-toned metal) that will really stand out against the black.

As for the downspouts, you can either leave them or paint them light gray to blend in with the brick. Gutters are okay white.

Hi Barbara:
Thank you for your help. We have a red-brick cape cod with beige/light tan siding on the sides and back of the house and around our white garage door. The roof is medium to dark brown. The windows and front door have white trim. We would like to repaint the vinyl shutters and front door, which are currently a colonial blue. Do you have any suggestions?

In a nutshell, anything but blue. I would like to see either dark chocolate for shutters and door or a dark mossy green. Something earthy. There’s something about blue against the brick that just doesn’t work for me.

I love the suggestion for the Kingsport gray! You suggested black for shutters and door. What do you think about dark, dark green or do you think black would be definitely be better? Thanks for your help. (I’m loving your site.) Lisa

You are so wonderful for responding so quickly! I love the idea of the charcoal gray. Very classy! We are interested in changing the color of the fascia and the gutters, too. Would we paint the wood surrounding the porch (currently painted white) the same color as the fascia and gutters? I don’t know why I’m having trouble picturing what to paint this area around the front door? Can you reccomend a complimentary color to to the charcoal gray? You mentioned a light gray? Is this like a taupe gray? Can you tell I’m truly clueless?

Have a look at Ben Moore’s edgecomb gray HC-173 for your trim color. It’s a taupey gray and would be a nice complement to your brick and a bridge between brick and roof color. As for the shutters and door, try Kendall charcoal HC-166, a warm charcoal gray. (You can always fall back on white — like a China white, which is slightly gray, for your trim if the edgecomb gray isn’t the look for you. Either way. But just make sure you paint the downspouts to blend with the brick.)

Of those three, which is your preference? I like the Tuscany green from the photos., but I want to go with what works best with the Kingsport – a color I really like and had never even considered! (I noticed my brick this morning – it’s a lighter shade of orange than I envisioned when I first asked.) Thank you so much for your help and quick replies. Lisa

Hi I have been reading all of your comments and I have to say they are wonderful… I hope you can help me…Ok so here is my dilemma… I bought a mission dining set in cherry color. My carpeting is almost off white… I would like to know what color would compliment the cherry furniture. My dining room and living room are connected so I cant have a focal wall (I’m looking to try to change that in some way). My sofa is just a shade darker than the carpeting. So can you help I would like to know what color I should paint the wall bring out the wood color and then I need to know what color curtains so go up against that… What accents would go good with all of it?? Please help because I cant decorate at all and I would like to have a cozy feeling when you walk in and look at the living room and dining room
Thank you soooooo much for your help

I just suggested this color for somebody else today — just a coincidence, I assure you — but have a look at Ben Moore’s Roxbury caramel (HC-42). It’s a rich warm brown that would contrast well with your off-white carpeting and sofa and look good behind the cherry mission dining set. Black as an accent color and white trim around baseboards, etc., would finish off the room.

I forgot to add that I like the modern look… I like color!!!! =)
My sofa also has hints o black in it …meaning that it is sort of a chenille fabric with black in it. I would like to put up some wall art that has black frames so it can stand out.
Thank so much for yor help. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Thanks

Thank you for your input….
so what color should the curtains be??? And if I want to add tones of red or something in the room can I ??? If so what?
should they be red curtains or red accents like throw pillows or something?
Thanks for your help

If you go with a rich caramel color on the walls, you can either use cream for the curtains and red for pillows, art, etc, around the rooms. Or you can try a dark red on the windows — that would be very dramatic. Personally, I like to reserve the red for an accent color in smaller quantities — you don’t tire of it as much. I would tend to keep the curtains in the neutral family (cream/caramel/brown) and use red for a large vase, pillows, artwork, etc.

Thank you so much
I see that they only sell this benjamin moore paint at an ace hardware store.. There aren’t to many of those around anymore
So I will try to find one but if I go to my local menards or home depot … do you have a similiar color in mind… Not only that but just in case … is there another color you would paint the walls? I only ask cuz when I look at the color online
It is almost similiar to my kitchen color (kitchen can be seen from the living room dining room ) but I cant really tell unless I go to the store a see the actual swatch…
Thanks again!!!!
I think Im getting it now =)
YAY!!!!!!!!!

What a fantastic website! I would love to get your advice concerning exterior colors for my pool deck, wood privacy fence, and detached storage shed. It is important to me that the colors I select coordinate with the existing exterior colors of my home. My home is a red brick blend with antique white eaves and weathered wood shingles. My front door is mahogany with a walnut stain. (I am happy to send a picture if it would help.)

My 8′ x 10′ detached storage shed is primed and ready to painted, but I am unable to make a decision. I have selected the color redwood that coordinates with my home’s red brick, and I plan to match the trim of the shed to that of the eaves of my home. However, I am fearful that the whole project may end up looking more like a barn! Any suggestions? Is there a general rule of thumb when choosing colors for a detached storage building?

I would like to stain the privacy fence and pool deck to match. (Painting would require too much maintenance.) Should I choose a stain that coordinates more with my brick or my shingles? Or should I match it to that already on my front door? These would also need to blend with the storage shed, as all are visible in the backyard. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Go with the shingles. I suggest painting the shed a color that’s in the weathered wood shingles (kind of a gray/green/brown). I would not paint the shed redwood unless you really want it to stick out (as barns usually do!). Same with the fence and pool deck. I would coordinate with the shingles and not the brick. None of these items should stand out as much as your front door so blending them in with the weathered wood shingles will work best. Pick a color that’s a medium grayed/brown tone so it blends and does not compete with your darker front door.

need quick advice. we have poplar white pella windows.
the house first floor is stratford rose brick by pine hall and the stucco color we chose was steph mode by drivit . which is very close shade to the poplar white. after applying it to the first window surround i ask the mason to stop. it looks too creamy yellow . what other stucco color can we use so it compliments the poplar white of the windows? the brick is grouted in standard cemant color .the stucco will cover most of the 2 floor of the house . at this point i just want to go with a safe stucco color.thanks mirae

I am flumoxed as to what color to paint an 11×12 east facing bedroom in Florida, where I’m moving in to take care of my elderly Mother.
The room is currently a soft greyinsh white. The issue is that her furniture is that ’70’s “antique cream” french provencial furniture-which as become more yellow over time.
I see several ways to go–a pale blue-grey (for contrast), a paler yellow ivory than the furniture, or a bright cool tone white. ( we will be putting the house on the market after updates, so I can’t get too creative with wall color/coverings.
Thank you for your wonderful blog! Susan

Thanks so much for your input regarding my privacy fence, deck, and shed. I am trying to match the weathered wood shingles, but making a color choice is perplexing! Do you have any suggestions for an exterior paint color (for the shed) and matching stain (for the fence and deck) that is a medium grayed/brown color from Lowes that you think would work well?

I do not have fan decks from Lowe’s, but if you send me a photo (mail to bmeglis@yahoo.com), I’ll be able to help you with colors from the fan decks I do have and you can then take to Lowe’s and match them. I cannot get back to you until Thursday morning if that’s okay. I’m off to my Dad’s birthday party in NY.

Hi! I was hoping to get your help on picking the right aqua/blue color for our living room. There are so many choices out there, it can be overwhelming. I am looking for a fresh color such as the one in the West Elm picture below. Our apartment is on the third floor in NYC, so not a lot of direct light, which is partly why I am looking for a fresh, modern color that emulates the sea or sky.

Our living room opens up to the dining room (pre-war building with lots of white trim in the apartment) and I was considering painting that room Benjamin Moore Moonshine. Do you think that would match the aqua/blue?

(We are limited to Benjamin Moore paint for reasons that are too boring to get into here.)

Exterior color selection for siding and trim (and accent) for an addition (on the side) to an exisiting multi red colored brick ranch home with a brown roof is proving to be extremely difficult. The addition on the front was designed to have the new architectural features (peaks on added porch and windows) repeated on the existing structure so there is a good tie in. However, in the back we have one side all brick and the other side all siding. It is important to me that the back look as much blended as possible since the house backs to a golf course and will get alot attention from that direction.
Front doors will be a natural wood color and the peaks over the windows probably deserve an accent color. I’m trying to avoid too many color combinations so as not to look like a circus. I have tried samples of many BM browns and greens and a couple yellows to no avail. Any recommendations are appreciated.

The key to picking your siding color for the addition is to pick a color from your brick or at least a color that is the same value as the brick. In other words, a rich earthy shade. A stark contrast between the brick and the siding will only accentuate the fact that they were built separately. I wouldn’t worry too much about the view from the golf course. Moving some brick red over to the other side of the house (like big red clay pots/flowers, etc.) or vise versa will unify the backyard view.

Have a look at something like Ben Moore’s Valley Forge Brown HC-74 or Plymouth Brown (HC-73) for siding color as well as Georgian Brick (HC-50) for an accent. Cameo white would make a beautiful warm trim color to pull the whole house together. Of course, white will work as well.

Great site this yourcolorcoach.wordpress.com and I am really pleased to see you have what I am actually looking for here and this this post is exactly what I am interested in. I shall be pleased to become a regular visitor 🙂

Hello. What a great site you have made, it has really helpful tips. I hope you can help me with my dilemma. I live in a rural area and me and my husband are thinking about building a polebarn for a garage/shed. Since it will also be used as our garage, I want it to look good with the house without taking away from the house too much. Our house is ranch style with white siding and cranberry shutters. I was thinking a two tone gray barn would look good, but I am not sure. Maybe light gray sides with a dark gray roof, trim, and wainscoting. The size of the barn will be very close to the size of our house and will also sit pretty close as well. What colors do you think? Thank you for your help.

I am in the process of painting a spare bedroom. The focal wall will be painted in a blue/grey BM Winter Lake. I am trying to find another paint color for the rest of the room. Originally I was going to paint the remain room a lighter blue. I was afraid it would be too much blue.

I would like to fine a nice white paint that will compliment Winter Lake.

You can try White ice (OC-58) for a cool fresh look or Cloud cover (OC-25) for a warmer look on the rest of the walls.
Be sure to throw some warm tones on the bed and under foot.

Honestly, I wouldn’t be afraid to go all blue on the walls. That frees you up to do all-white linens to give you a fabulous look. Bedrooms are supposed to be warm and cozy and I’m a little afraid the three white walls might be too cold. But see what you think.

I never thought about the bedroom being cold feeling in doing mostly white walls but you bring up a good point. I’m not sure about doing the room in all blue. I do like the idea of all white linens. The master bedroom is done in a sage green with all white linens and it looks great. I’m not sure I want another bedroom in the same.

My goal was to create a relaxing coastal theme room since the room is decorated mostly in ocean art prints, lighthouses and sea shells.

I would use a soft sand color for the other three walls. It will accent any white you do have in the room and make the blue look great too.
I still think a little color on those other three walls is preferable to white.

STILL working on my colors believe it or not… ( so much for them telling me 2 weeks ? )
i need your advice on the diningroom ..

this is what i have so far…foyer color is BM’s crownpointe sand.. great room tyler taupe.. dining room is open to both …
dishes are villeroy and boch aundun ferme ( they have pics on the website ) .. butter yellow/cremey white with black toille scenes …

i have wainscotting from chair rail height down .. painted ivory white .. so i need the top wall color ..

had the georgian brick flagged ( love it .. but not sure i love it for my diningroom ?? thinking more for mudroom ? )

is there a green color ? or gray ? or color i’m not considering that would look great?? don’t want to do a yellow as i have concord ivory in my sunroom and i have similar color kitchen cabinets … ??

so thinking maybe a great tranquil green? or a grey?? or ???
outside of the house is nantucket grey … would that be an option? or go more toward the wethersfield moss?
provenical green? olive ?
help?? 🙂

hope all is well
thanks
nancy
could you forward the response to my email address as well ?

Hi Sharon, I was wondering if you could suggest a paint color for my dining room? The kitchen, dining room and sun room are all in a row in railroad fashion, and you can see all three colors from any of the rooms.

After a few weeks, it all seems too colorful and rainbow-y and we are thinking of changing the DR color from Rio Rancho clay to something more earthy to ground the palette. Can you suggest a color? Would either BM Jackson Tan or Dark Mustard work, with the Moroccan Red on one side and the Country Comfort on the other? Or should we ground it in some other way?

FYI, Our living room is BM Milkyway and opens into the DR. Also, we have gumwood trim in all the LR doorways. The DR under the chair rail is just white. We are thinking only of repainting the top.

You certainly have a colorful palette, but I think what isn’t working is that each hue has a different value (they’re at different levels on the paint chip) so they don’t blend together. When you’re using a lot of colors, the easiest way to blend them is to choose your shades from the same level on the paint chip (four down from the top or whatever). And make sure you use the same trim color throughout. That way the eye is not jarred while moving from room to room. Everything flows. But in your case, I think it would be a great idea to choose Jackson Tan for the top part of the dining room. That earthy tone will definitely break up the rainbow and give the eye a bit of a rest before moving on to the next beautiful color. Also remember to cross-pollinate your colors between rooms to create flow (bring some red in from the kitchen into the dining room, etc).

I am trying to figure out what colors to paint my outdoor shed. My house has dark brown cedar siding with green shutters. I was thinking of painting the shed a lighter green with white or brown trim. What do you think?

Hi Barbara,
We are painting the living room camelback from SW above the chair rail and linen white below the chair rail. We are painting all moldings (including the window panes), below chair rails and doors throughout the house linen white to tie all the rooms. The entry, hallways (upstairs and downstairs) are being painted SW believable buff above the chair rail and linen white below. The dining room is Exotic red from BM. The family room/kitchen is pine forest from BM. What color should the living room, entrance, hallway, dining and kitchen/family room be painted?

I found your site today and cant stop reading. I’m in awe of your talent and impressed with your willingness to help.

I wonder if you could take a look at my disaster? I am so excited that its time to paint and finally feel good again about the exterior of our home, but so afraid to make another mistake. I’ve sent photos to your email. The taupe color is on the house today. I think it is too modern and it has too many accent colors and lines for the simple architecture of the house. The second photo is of the house before we painted it, a look that I wouldn’t mind getting back if I understood how to. The roof is black in both. The house used to be stained a caramel color and had an antique New England look that I found understated and elegant. The siding became too dry so our contractor painted it in oil based paint to try to save the wood. I think that worked but now we have paint instead of stain. Is there a paint that will approximate the caramel stain look? If so, do you agree that we should eliminate the brown and white accents and go back to one uniform color? Or, would you recommend another color scheme to bring back the antique NE look? The plants are hollies, and pink and blue hydrangeas. The front door needs a pickup too, wouldn’t you say?

Sorry for the delay. I recommend choosing a Historical color from Ben Moore (regardless of the actual paint brand you use) since they are very tasteful and great for creating a historic look on a colonial. Your desired photo house looks green (but you say it was caramel). Check out both — something like Hancock gray HC-97 or Richmond gold HC-41 — and definitely use black shutters or none at all for that New England look. Yes, I would keep the trim the same as the house color to age the house.

Barbara: I’m sending an email with 2 photos of my house. It’s a 1935 white stucco house w/black roof, trim, and shutters. We’ve only been in the house a few months now, and we’ll need to replace some of the rotted wood window trim soon. The thing is, I think the black and white combo is really boring, but when I look at other white stucco houses they usually have white or brown trim, still not very exciting. We don’t want to paint the stucco, and since all the window sashes are also painted black, I’m worried we’ll just be stuck with black trim to keep it easy and inexpensive. Any ideas on how to jazz it up a bit? I was thinking of new shutters with an interesting color (olive/moss green??) and painting the front door something fun. We will definitely get rid of the tall trees and overgrown bushes and put in some nicer plants and shrubs. We also need to replace the storm door (black full view maybe?), and I was thinking we could add window boxes under the front windows, and I’m wondering if you have suggestions for the style and color of these boxes. Please help–this is all so overwhelming! Thanks so much–Laura in Minnesota

Hi Barbara:
We moved into a 1935 white stucco house a few months ago. The roof is black, all of the trim is black, and the exterior of the window sashes are black. I’m not a big fan of the black and white combo, but as I’ve looked at white stucco houses, they usually have dark brown or white trim, so I guess there aren’t a lot of exciting options out there. If we keep the black trim, are there ways to add some interest? I’ll send you 2 photos so you can see the house; you’ll see there are bricks around the front door that are dark red, brown, and mustard yellow. Also, we’ll be removing all the shrubs and trees from the front of the house as they are very overgrown, and we’ll replace them with some nice shrubs and perennials.

With all this in mind, can you please offer some options for adding some color and interest beyond the black and white scheme? I’m thinking we could change the color of the shutters (perhaps blue-ish gray or olive green?), and I’d like to add window boxes, so I’d love it if you could suggest a style of window box and color. Last, can you offer options for front door paint color, and for planters near the front steps that could tie it all together?

And finally, what “style” would you call this house?

Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated–thanks so much for your help!

Hi Barbara,
Your site great! I’m hoping you can give my husband and me some ideas to update our house exterior. Our house is 1/2 siding, half blond brick with dark brown in it. The siding needs to be replaced and we’re at a loss which way to go. The siding is currently a light brownish color and we have dark brown trim. Since we can’t figure out what color siding to do to with the brick, we’ve considered replacing the siding and then painting the brick to match to give it a uniform look. Any color ideas are greatly appreciated!
Here’s a link to a picture:

I like the siding color with your brick. I suggest painting your garage door the same color as the house color and painting all the trim white to match the windows. That will really lighten and brighten. See what you think.

Your site is amazing with so much great information. I like the way your explain the reasons for your suggestions. Its not just like “do this” instead you help us understand the rationale behind it.

My house is a brick ranch (pics e-mailed to you) and it needs a new roof, new windows, new door and much better landscaping. We are working on it bit by bit.

I would like to get rid of the storm door & painted grey door and instead do a 3/4 glass front door that is stained a Walnut or Espresso.

The windows and trim are all a white/off white.

For the roof: Would you suggest Driftwood or a Dark gray (Estate grey or Williamsburg gray) in the variegated architectual shingles? The roof is rather large so I thought black would be way too heavy looking.

And second question: If I add plantation shutters, do I need to have a grid down the middle of the window pane or should I keep the pane plain and gridless? Right now it has lots of grids but I think that will be too busy with shutters.

We just bought this house (built in 1937) and are enclosing the side porch to create a sunroom (exterior will be all wood molding/paneling/windows). We can’t decide what color to paint the exterior of the sunroom: (1) match to the current white trim; (2) match to the current pale yellow/cream siding; (3) should we paint all of the trim on the entire house plus the new sunroom to match the current pale yellow/cream siding?

I suggest painting the current pale yellow siding (and the new sunroom) a richer shade like a medium taupe that will balance the brick better and provide less contrast. Then you can keep all the white trim everywhere. I think that will really transform your whole house.

I’d like your advice on our brick American Foursquare built in 1929. We’re getting ready to replace the eaves, add a new roof, paint trim, porch, and door. The brick is difficult to match, as you can see we didn’t do a good job 5 years ago when painting the porch. 🙂 I’ve learned so much after reading your blog!

Looking for roof, trim, and porch color suggestions. We will apply the same colors to the garage. The roof is light green, but I was thinking of going with a brown or gray. We live in Central Illinois and most houses on the block were built in 1920’s to 40’s.

I like your idea to go with a roof color that’s actually in your brick. I would choose brown since that will really warm up the house. Then paint your porch floor and steps the same medium taupey tan as the cement steps on the side of the house. You can paint the risers a darker brown.

Then as for the porch, personally, Linda, I would take out the sunray spindles and replace them with the more traditional spindles like what you have going up the front steps. Paint all the trim white like it is and you’re all set.

I have painted my combined living/Dining room in Carrington Beige from Benjaminmoore….my kitchen also has a somewhat open concept to my living/dining room…
would a red point sand -cc-128 colour be wise to use in the kitchen walls…. kitchen counter has different tones of brown and the cupboards are med. oak..floors are beige and appliances and lighting stainless steel.

Barbara,
I’m so glad I stumbled onto your site. Thank you for agreeing to provide some advice. I certainly don’t mind making a donation in exchange for some sage advice, as I am married to a colorblind husband. Before he met me he bought a home built in 1959 that is a bi-level ranch (?). It has brick on bottom and mint green vinyl siding. He didn’t know it was green believe it or not! Anyway, here we are years later wanting to update without the expense of replacing the siding. I am wondering if it would be just awful to paint the brick a chocolate brown and have white trim/possibly white shutters? Our roof is dark charcoal color -relatively new. I love the idea of a modern, crip looking house. I don’t mind if it looks like a huge Andes mint as long as it looks good. I am a little scared to try it though. I’ve photoshopped it and thought it looked nice, but am still nervous. My hairdresser who also flips houses is the one who gave me this advice several years ago. I can’t find a single image of a house with this color scheme online that (with the exception of a Victorian painted lady hosue). Your thoughts? Thanks, Michele

Hi Barbara,
How nice of you to offer your insight in this way. As you can see from the photo, we have a fairly plain-jane 2 story house. The garage door is a dark brown. I don’t care for the looks of the outside too much but it hasn’t been in our budget to do much about it. However, due to the recent windstorms, we are getting a new roof and have decided to invest in new gutters too. I am having trouble picking colors, because I want to plan for the way it will look once “the whole package” is done – I’d like to get new siding/color and trim too. I really don’t like the tan/yellowish look of the house now. The lower area is brick, red with some dark ones mixed in. The door is new, and cream colored. Everything else is “up” for being changed. If you could help me with a long-term vision to make our house a site to enjoy instead of a site of blah, I would appreciate it!
Amanda

Sorry for the really long delay! If you’re still pondering your house color, have you considered painting the siding a Richmond Gold (HC-41 from Ben Moore), the shutters black, and the trim (all of it) cream? That would warm up your house a lot and make it look terrific.

Hi Barbara! I too stumbled across this site in my efforts to determine a paint color for the outside of my home. It is wonderful that you are so willing to share your talent and give your time to those who need it!
Personally, I love color, but am always so afraid of getting it wrong – especially when it’s on something that EVERYONE will see, such as the exterior of my home. Given that the exterior is exactly what is to be painted (in less than a week now), I find myself in quite a predicament. I have literally spent the last 2 1/2 months flipping through color decks, selecting colors, second guessing myself, selecting new colors, second guessing myself,…..you see the pattern.
As you’ll see in the attached link, http://s593.photobucket.com/albums/tt20/sts7391/, our home is comprised of brick, composite wood exterior siding, and wood trim. The one thing I am certain on, is that I do want my wood siding color to be darker than the trim color. My concern lies with finding the right color of siding to balance between the brick and the roof. Currently I am thinking SW Oak Creek, offset with a creamy trim color. Although I woke up this morning thinking maybe we could go a tad more bold and use a color such as SW Wheat Penny ~ but again, maybe bold isn’t the way to go given the style of home (see, here I go again :). Any suggestions you can provide are greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your time and assistance!

So sorry for the long delay. I’ve been swamped with work. If you’re still pondering, I would go with the darker color, wheat penny and a lighter trim. Maybe not as yellow as a cream but rather a very light taupe that would blend with your stone.

I’m glad I happened upon your blog. I just painted my family room Boardwalk. Now the Marblehead Gold that is in my kitchen clashes a bit. We’d like to tone our kitchen down a little. Can you recommend a paint in the green/sage family that would work well with Boardwalk? I’d rather go more pale than dark.

We have a maroon coach and a green side chair and a brown coffee table also our other funitures are wood brown and also we have a plant thats green. I don’t know what to color our walls. It’s off white right now and I don’t think it even matches our furnitures.

Please help me on what to do.
Also what kind of carpet should I buy? wall pictures? we have a few fake green plants to put around the house. just the walls are plain and i really need your help on to what color.

You might consider a soothing gray green, something like Ben Moore’s Camouflage (2143-40) to tie the greens together and use the maroon as an accent color in the room. For carpet, I would stick with a medium neutral tan that will go with your wood tones but not add any more color to the room. As for pictures on the walls? Whatever you love to look at — photos of family all framed in the same colored frames (black looks nice) on one wall are a great way to start.

Hello Barbara, I just finished painting my 1918 Massachusetts Cape style home with Olympic Paints Blonde Beauty, a pale yellow, in satin, and Gypsum, a off white, trim, in semi gloss. The home has vinyl matte black shutters. I’m trying to decide on a front door color. The front door is on a part of the house, which used to be a porch, now enclosed, with white cedar shakes, and door moldings painted in the Gypsum. The sides of the porch are painted the body color. The roof is a high pitched multi-colored natural slate. There is a overhang of patchwork lattice, which I was thinking of painting an off black, to make it somewhat disappear from the cedar shingles. The home in a Historical District, but neighborhood house colors seem all accross the board. Any suggestions you can give would be much appreciated.

How about choosing a door color from your multi-colored natural slate roof? Maybe a rich cranberry or a dark plum? As long as the color is a darker version of a color in your slate, the house will look pulled together nicely. Then put some of those roof colors in the yard — lilacs, etc. Sounds wonderful!

I’m hoping you can help us. We are going to paint our house soon and have about 10 color swatches on the outside of our house and can’t decide! We have so many different textures on the house that the paint looks different on each (stucco on the back, wood siding and brick on the front). We are going to paint the brick as well to make the house more uniform. The colors we were looking at as the front runners were Dunn Edwards – Wooden Peg (DE6215), Shaggy Barked (DEC771), Trail Dust (DE6123) and Hickory (DEC759). But still not completely happy with these. We tested Birchwood, Rustic Taupe, Bison Beige and a couple of others, but all didn’t seem quite right. We are going to paint the shutters and front door black and keep the trim white. Do you have any suggestions? We were trying to go with a warm brownish/gray taupe, but there are so many variations! The other houses around us are all very light creamy, beige brown color ranch homes. We want to be a little different, but not stick out like a sore thumb.

Thanks so much! I will email a picture as well. Really appreciate any advice!!

I have a very large metal detached garage that is almond color with white trim and doors.

The house now is a natural aged wood with white trim.
We are going to do vinyl siding on the house.

My question is this do I have to match the color of the house to the garage? I really like taupe, and want to do taupe with white siding, will this clash?
I’ll do the almond if it will look better more unified, but almond is so boring, and taupe looks more modern but I’m afraid it will clash.

Taupe will be great. Just make sure the taupe is dark enough so that the two colors have some contrast. Don’t use taupe if it’s the same hue value as the almond — it will look like you tried to match them and missed. Another trick is to pull some taupe over onto the garage and some almond onto the house (accessories, flower pots, etc.). That will pull the two structures together and unite the colors into one color scheme.

I wondered if you might be able to suggest some good color combinations for annuals or perennials for the exterior of our home. We have medium tan siding with ivory trim and dark green shutters. Our home is a single family, less than a year old, so currently we only have the builder-provided basic landscape scrubs (a few small evergreens and pink azaleas.). The areas we need to focus on is a pretty large “kidney” shaped sunny in the middle of our yard (to camoflauge the sewer cover) and the front of our house, which is very shady most of the day.

Since you already have pink azaleas, I would focus on purples and pinks for your landscape color scheme. That would include lilacs, blue and white hydrangeas, purple irises, hot pink peonies and just about everything in that color scheme. Since you have tan siding, I would stay away from the yellows/oranges (since there would be less contrast). That should help you narrow down the choices and really pull together a beautiful landscape that incorporates color for all seasons.

Would like a color consult with you if possible — yikes, the painters are here and I don’t have color. Please email if this is possible, francesnc@aol.com I will then give you my phone number, or you can leave yours. I have BM charts, am looking at historical colors, dark green roof, two story colonial. I know there’s a charge, not a problem. Looking to hear from you. Frances

It’s so wonderful to come across this blog.Thanks barbara for helping people us out.
I have a question as well but I am not sure if how to post it.Here’s the question – I am shifting into a new condo,which has a whole lot of windows and a whole lot of light.It’s a new condo and I need to paint it up.

We have brazilian cherry flooring in the living room,it’s a nice reddish colour.I was thinking I’ll pick a beige or so for the walls,but there is one accent wall that I wanted to paint in a bright colour.Any suggestions for that?

I also want to paint the master bedroom,which has a cream colour carpet.I see that blues and greens seem to be more popular in bedrooms,but somehow I want more earthier tones.I also want to paint an accent wall in the bedroom with a different colour.Can you suggest any colour combinations?

Also what do you think abt the various decorative finishes that there are these days?

Sounds like a great condo! In choosing your accent wall color, look at your furniture, your artwork and accessories, your rug, and whatever else is going in the room. Using all of those items as inspiration, pick the color that your eye is drawn to. Depending on your design style, you may want to darken up that shade for the accent wall or choose a slightly greyed-down version to complement and coordinate without too much drama.

As for the bedroom, I suggest you choose your bedding first an then choose an accent color out of that. It’s much easier that way. If you’re going with classic white bedding, then use a color that makes you feel relaxed and inspired. Anything from chocolate to eggplant to dark teal to all the earth tones. Whatever you love.

The floor colour is dark in this picture.But what we have is actually a reddish cherry colour.

I was thinking about going with Papaya-Benjamin moore for the living room walls.There is one accent wall that you cannot see in the picture,which I need to be painted differently.Can you suggest what would be a great accent colour with a beigish tone?

I’m wondering if you can suggest a good roof tile colour to go with my duplex that I’ve got at the moment. The cement tiles on the roof are a faded chocolate colour and it looks very 80s. The front door (not shown) has been painted white, and we’re going to be painting the gutters too – perhaps two tone like they are at the moment (brown/white), but the neighbour has (green/white) gutters so we want something that looks good while giving the place a refresh. I chose this picture (http://swanvalleywa.com/brenton/abcd0001.jpg) because it shows the bricks in the sunlight as well as the shade. I was thinking perhaps ‘woodland grey’ but not sure if this will fit.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks for the great blog, you’re obviously very popular and in demand!

Hi. I’ve attached a link to a pic of our house. We are trying to decide what color to paint the front door. We are planning to get a new roof soon as well and were thinking about using CertainTeed Landmark 30 (Driftwood or Weathered Wood) Architectural Shingles. Any ideas would be appreciated re: roof and door. Thanks. Amy

I think either roof color will go with your house, but the weathered wood might be the better choice. Then you could pick up on the red brick color with a Georgian Brick (Ben Moore) door. I think that would be a great combo and would warm up your entry way.

Hi Barbara–Wow I just came across your blog and I am so impressed. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question, as well as, many others it looks like! I promise to not take too much of your time–Just one big question–What color would you paint our house–We are pulling our hair out trying to decide and I am about ready to throw in the towel! Thank goodness I came across you! GOOD LUCK! I need to send you picture but don’t know how!! Sorry-

I am having a horrible time trying to decide what colours to paint the exterior of our house. I am not crazy about our brick colour (brownish with flecks of black) or our siding colour (cream w/a yellowish tone) but we can’t afford to paint over them so I’m hoping to pick colours that will modernize, update and help with curb appeal. Currently we have yellow shutters& garage door with a mint green front door w/a dark green kickplate..definitely not my style. As we can’t afford to change the siding and the brick is what it is what should we do??? My instincts are to go brown on the garage doors and garage window to fade them into the brick -something like davenport tan (HC76) or buckhorn chincchilla (CC510) from benjamin moore and then go with either a goldish/tan colour door (wilmington tan HC34 benj. moore) or a red (bonaparte CC64 benj moore or sundried tomatoe CC62 benj moore). In terms of the shutters – should I be matching our roof (brown – so same as garage doors) or should I be going with a lighter more neutral colour (maybe powell buff Benj moore HC 35)to match the creamy window trim colour which matches the siding colour as seen in the 2 front bay windows?? Finally in terms of BM paints – i really like their colours – should i be nervous about mixing paint codes that are HC and CC? what does that mean? I have sent picture of my house to your email to help you get an idea of the challenges we’re facing. Thanks so much for your help and for having a website like this for all of us out there that are drfinintely missing the “design decor” gene.

This section has grown far larger than I expected. Instead of asking your questions here, please visit my new “Talking about…” section. Leave your question in one of the categories listed there and we’ll continue our discussions.

So happy to have found this site! I need some serious help with changing our house color. Unfortunately, I chose a bright blue with a darker blue trim on a Victorian when I was 8 months pregnant (and that was 6 years ago). Our 1880 house has a lovely garden and looks very nice and updated on the inside but the outside is not subtle…especially in our historic neighborhood (ps my husband loves it). We live in Newton, MA and I was hoping you could contact me about setting up and appointment and to let me know your fees for consultation. Thank you very much! Rebecca

I have a French country style home. I would like the body color to be a terra cotta and I am thinking the shutters would be great in a dark black/green. I am stumped by the fascia, window trim, and garage door. Can I send pictures, and if so, how. I truly think pictures would help you to advise me. Thanks so much, Leanne

Hi again Barbara. I sent you an email on June 18, 2009 about painting my front door and attached a picture. I am pretty happy with the Georgian Brick color but it seems like the siding around the door and above the windows, which is a cream color, really stands out and not in a good way. Any suggestions for that? Can I paint it a dark brown color to blend in more with the brick? Thanks. Amy

Just had my home reroofed after having the same roof for 20 years. Make sure you are really sure what color you want. Do not make a snap decision as I did. I went with the Owen Corning Oakridge, which is what my contractor offered. The mistake I made was going with the estate grey versus the driftwood. The estate grey is very bluish. It is not bad looking, but my brick is more terra cotta than red, so I feel the driftwood would have been a truer grey/brown.

Good advice to all of us. Get samples and stand back to look at the house in various lights. Sometimes it is tough to choose a roof because once the sample is in large quantity (as on your roof) it can really take on quite a strong color. But I’m sure the estate grey will be fine. Maybe if you plant some “blue-toned” evergreen shrubs in your landscape, you can tie in the blue and pull the whole look together.
Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

Hello. I am trying to get some advice on what colors might go with my current roof, owens corning colonial slate. Right now door and shutters are cranberry color. Looking to maybe do something different. Rest of house is taupe color. Brick is …well I can send pictures. I have tried your e mail but have had no luck. Thanks, Dave

Since your house has so many shutters, the color really makes an impact, as you know. To tie in the roof, which reads gray from the street, how about a dark gray-brown for your shutters, something like Ben Moore’s Whitall Brown HC-69. That color may be the best bridge between the grays and taupes in your color scheme. Then, although the front door is in the shadow of the entryway and probably would benefit from a lighter color, I suggest picking the rust out of the slate roof with something like Georgian Brick HC-50. That will warm up the neutrals in the brick and roof and create a warm inviting entry.

Dear Barbara,
My husband and I are in the process of buying a home that is about 40 years old. The work on the inside has been updated in great neutral colors.The thing I am struggling with is this … the roof is a french vanilla/tan colored metal roof. The house at this time is painted the same color with white trim and a deep taupe color on the doors. I was wondering IF you could give me some new color suggestions for the outside. I am afraid to go dark on the house with such a light colored roof. I like the taupe and would consider still using that color with something else. I would really appreciate your input.
Thanks, Brenda

Since your roof is brown (missed that in the photos, sorry!), try Night Horizon 2134-10 for the shutters. The color is nearly black but clearly has a brown undertone. That should work. Choose enough gloss for your exterior finish on the shutters that it coordinates well with the metals. Semi is fine but I would not go glossier than that (high gloss is too much). As for the trim around the garage, since it’s minimal, you can go ahead and paint it Sail Cloth. That way, the trim will not stand out as a feature around the garage doors.

Good luck with your painting. Hope you’re really pleased with the end result!

Thank you for visiting my blog! I would be happy to help you with your paint colors. You can either insert a photo link into this reply box or attach a photo to an email and send it to me at bmeglis@yahoo.com. As soon as I receive notification of payment from the blog, I will get right to your project and help you with your garage door and paint colors.

I am going to be getting the front door replaced on my 1960’s brick ranch and really need some help picking out a color for the door and shutters. It’s been burgundy for almost 20 years and I was hoping to make a change. We are replacing the old wood double doors with a single door with 3/4’s glass and a full side lite on each side. My siding is Wolverine Clay and the brick tends to have a pink tone. My roof is called Weathered Wood I believe (kind of a gray and tan mixed). I will e-mail you pictures.

How about either New Chestnut (AC-6) (Ben Moore) or Texas Leather (AC-3) for the shutters — either color will complement your stonework nicely and contrast with your siding color. Then for the door, pick a warm color from your stone, something like Audubon Russet HC-51 or Copper Mountain AC-12. Either of those colors will tie in your stonework and make the entry stand out from the rest of the house.

Hello Barbara,
I too am grateful to have found you and your site. I live in a country setting and am building a redwood siding home. the asphalt roof color has not been picked out yet, but it will most likely have some green/black colors in it. I would love to get your input on the choice to make for the windows and doors. I am having a difficult time deciding on whether to go with exterior wood stained windows or clad. If it is clad, what (permanent) color would you recommend on the window casing and trim? And would you recommend the windows to match the front door (i.e. clad or wood?) I could send you some drawings of the home to help give you a better visual.
I appreciate your suggestions.

Since you will have a rustic styled home with natural wood siding, I suggest a natural window color, either painted or clad. Brown works great: Rustic or Gingersnap in this line of windows (link below). Green does too. Whites/creams will really pop out and if you have a rustic setting, you might not want that kind of contrast around your windows.http://www.kolbe-kolbe.com/homeowner/index.cfm?page=products&sub=detailsExtFinishAC

Since brown would blend with the siding color, it would free you up to have a front door in almost any color. No the door will not match the windows unless you love the color. Usually the front door is a contrasting accent color.

Don’t feel tied to green for the roof — there are lots of roof colors out there. You do not have to match roof and window color — but if you pick a green roof (and use a brown window), you might want to tie the green roof in by using green on the door.

The big thing for this kind of house is to consider the setting when you’re picking your exterior color scheme. You’re on the right track.

As for wood vs clad, it’s a question of whether you are a purist (only wood will do) or a pragmatist (ease of maintenance is primo!). That’s a question for you to answer. Visually, you can achieve the same overall palette with either choice.

I am in need of recommendations for new roof shingles, drip flashing and front door colors. I live in San Diego approximately 1.5 miles to the beach and Tijuana Border. My exterior stucco is currently painted Sandstone Beige (Behr X-86, satin) and the wood siding is Shortgrass Prairie (Behr 760D-5, semi-gloss). As you can see from pictures sent through email, the front door is High Gloss White along with all the trim around the roof and white windows.

My front metal gate is dark brown and fences around the house are Behr Cedar 501. My initial “simple guy” thoughts were going with some shade of gray shingles but after viewing your great site I am considering lighter browns.

My current roof is some type of old brown along with 60% of neighboring homes. Also, the house across the street and the house to my rear are done in red clay tile; I like the tile but, a bit out of my price range. I currently have swatches of Owens Corning Duration: Amber, Sand Dune, and Sierra Grey colors. Somehow I was pushing towards Amber. Thoughts?

Sorry for the delay! I took a look at the roof samples you suggested, and I really like Sand Dune. It seems to tie in all the colors, both tans and grays, and it looks good with both the stucco and siding colors on your house. I would keep the fascia white — it’s nice and crisp for your Southern California location. As for the front door, you might want an accent color — brown would work as it would tie in the front gate. Your eye would go from gate to door. I think I might consider painting the garage door the same color as the wood siding. That way it won’t stand out too much. But the white is crisp and it’s not bad.

The amber roof option is too light — not enough contrast with the house. And the gray introduces a new color to the palette. I think the Sand Dune is a great option. But make sure you look at big samples propped up against the house. You’ll be able to confirm the choice.

My husband and I are in the process of building a new cottage-style home after losing our home in a fire this summer. There are some pictures posted on the web site above (we have amazing builders who are working through the cold Chicago winter!)

We’ve selected BM Fairview Taupe as the body color and are in love with this choice. The roof shingles will be black. We are struggling with finding the right white trim. There will be a lot of trim on the front of the house (all of the windows, trim of 2 garage doors, and a pergola on the right side of the house), so we want to make sure we get the trim color right.

I originally selected BM Lancaster Whitewash, which looked like a soft, yet bright white on my sample boards. I selected Pella’s poplar white windows, since they were the closest match to Lancaster Whitewash. The windows are now here, and they look very “almond.” (Not the white look I was going for.) I’m looking for a new white trim that will work with Pella poplar white, but will look more white than almond.

I’m also interested in any recommendations you have for a door color — possibly red or black.

I imagine you’re busy enjoying the holidays, so I appreciate your advice. Feel free to e-mail me if you need any clarification.

Have you seen Sail Cloth (ext) or Bone and Navajo White? They have less of a yellow undertone so they should blend better with your windows. I agree, the Lancaster Whitewash looks a little light and lemony next to your window.

Probably a better approach would be to contact Pella for a paint match color. They should be able to give that to you. But you don’t have to use the perfect match for the trim color — just go up or down on the paint strip for a shade or two lighter or darker. That will give some more depth to the house.

For the front door, take a look at Dinner Party (AF-300), a wonderful bricky red, and Caponata (AF-650), a dark eggplant.

Hello Barbara – I’ve attached a couple photos of my house exterior. I’m in need of help choosing the colors for:

1. Window trim (aluminum coil wrap)

I have ordered new white vinyl windows for the home and afraid white windows with white trim with white vinyl siding will be too much white (The siding and roof are fairly new and would like to work with these colors).

2. Shutter color

Keep the black? Grey? Other?

3. Front Door / Storm Door color? I am open to replacing the front door and possibly storm door too. Are both doors suppose to be the same color?

I plan on replacing the front wood step with concrete, possibly red bricks to bring out the chimney. I plan on using Sherwin Williams paints.

Since you have a traditional cape-style home, I would go with either white for the window trim or a light gray that goes with the roof. Honestly, white will be fine. If you look at your neighbor’s windows, they look much smaller than yours because of the “eyeliner” around each window. Using contrast around the windows works for larger homes, but I would stick with white for yours to maximize the visual space. Contrast breaks things up.

Having said that, of course, I do believe you need a contrasting color for your shutters. Black works, but how about something with a little more color but still a classic look? Check out Roycroft Bottle Green SW 2847. Bringing color to the windows will warm up the house.

Then for the front door, I suggest a white full-view storm door and paint for the front door. How about bringing in the brick color from your new brick steps and chimney? Check out Roycroft Copper Red SW 2839?

An alternative color scheme, perhaps a little more contemporary, might be shutters in Roycroft Bronze Green SW 2846 with the white full-view storm door and the front door painted in Morris Room Grey SW 0037 (high gloss). That combo is a little less expected but equally as appealing with the brick.

I do like the idea of redoing the front steps in brick or other stone. And you might switch out the mailbox and light fixtures to oil-rubbed bronze instead of black if you decide to use something other than black for the shutters. The bronze is warmer and again will tie in with the brick and the suggested shutter/door colors.

The rest is a little fresh landscaping (it’s okay to get rid of the wood railing along the front of the house and just mulch your garden beds. Bringing a variety of heights and colors to the landscape will brighten the house, add color, and really make it look like home.

Your roof will make a statement but with the ocean as a backdrop, it sounds like a really NICE statement. I suggest a sand color for the body of the house. That way you have the landscape to bring in the wonderful color. White is best for trim and shutters.

Great site and great idea! I’ve been reading your blog and I know you can help me with my challenging home.

My home is bland and boring. I am updating the landscaping and that will help, but I would like the exterior of my home to be more interesting. One obvious thing are the two bedroom windows on the front of the house. They look too high. How might we dress them up? Some ideas were to add window boxes and shutters, but I don’t know if drawing that much attention to them is a good idea.

The porch is another area we could update. An idea was to add a gable above the porch with some posts on the porch. I don’t know how much that would cost, but it sounds expensive. Maybe adding just the posts would look ok. I don’t like the white door because it’s white. It works ok with the brick color, but I want something else. Maybe the bench on the porch could be painted to add some interest.

The roof, gutters, fascia, soffit, and garage are brown. The brick has a few different colors. One of the colors is Totally Tan SW 6115. I didn’t have time to check the other colors.

I’m not opposed to replacing the garage door if it would spice things up. It’s in need of repair anyways. Not sure how much that would cost either.

I look forward to hearing your suggestions for the exterior. Have fun!!

I think what your house needs most is some window/door trimwork. Am I seeing just brick around the windows and doors? Is it possible to add wood trim around everything? If so, that will transform your house! And to really shake things up, I suggest cooling down the house color by picking up the grays/tans in the foundation/porch for the trim color. Take a look at Sherwin Williams’ Kilim Beige SW 6106 or Ben Moore’s Edgecomb Gray HC-173. I might also paint the fascia and soffit area the same color to lighten up the roof. Believe me, you’ll see a huge difference in the house.

Then you can focus on the other colors. I would still use a darker version of the trim color for the garage door, again to cool the house. Look at either Latte SW 6108 or Ben Moore’s Revere Pewter HC-172.

The front door can be a nice dark eggplant like Ben Moore’s Caponata AF-650 or a cool brown like Coconut Husk SW 6111. The bench can be a color from your garden — an accent!

As for the landscape, focus on the area below the bedroom windows. You’ll want to have taller shrubs in there to cover some of that extra space beneath the windows. They won’t look so small then.

Does that help? Oh one more thing. How about nickel lighting instead of wrought iron? That will also update your look!

Hi- I think I might have posted before completing my post, so I apologize if you are getting this again!

We live in a 1960’s “colonial” in Connecticut. We are a shingled house that is stained a cedar color that we do not like and has not grown on us in the 4.5 years we have lived in our home. Two years ago we repainted the trim and garage doors to freshen things up, but we are finally ready to paint the siding. We live in a fairly shady area with lots of trees. Our neighbor has a big white house so we definitely don’t want to go white. I was thinking BM Bleeker Beige, my mom suggest BM Briarwood. I like Briarwood but feel like it might be too dark for our shady spot. We are getting new wood shutters and I thought a navy would be nice- an alternative to a classic black. Also want to paint the front door too- do we do that the same as the shutters or something different? The back wall to our front porch is currently painted white, but our painter suggested, and I agree but would love more feedback, that we paint the wall the same as what we paint the house, so that it doesn’t look so chopped up when you are looking at it from the front. I still want to keep the trim and the garage doors white. Our roof is a lightish gray asphalt. I would love to email you pictures but can’t figure out how to attach them to a post. If you email me offline, I would love to send them to you. Thank you!

I have a brick cape cod with white shutters, doors and trim. The shutters are nice, but peeling. I had someone strip one of them down, and they’re cedar. I have been considering stripping them all, and just treating them to keep their natural color. If I do that (even if I don’t), I want to paint my front door black. I bought a storm door that just frames the doorway (black). Next step is to paint the front door black, get a nice shiny new doorknob, mail slot and a knocker, and strip the rest of the shutters.

My questions: How to treat cedar shutters? If I paint them, rather than keeping them naked, what’s the best way to paint cedar? Does the natural wood work for the shutters? Does it compete with the brick? What color should I paint the trim, the dormers, and the garage door? I guess I need to paint the breezeway door too (next to the garage). A second black door there, I guess, but what about the trim there? What about the gutters and downspouts? (I really wanted copper for these, but one thing at a time.)
I’ve been mulling this over for such a long time now! Thanks for any help!

It’s fine to use the natural wood shutters with your brick. Ask the paint professionals how to preserve them if you want to keep the rustic quality or stain them. You might consider adding some wrought iron hardware to the shutters to dress them up a bit since you’ll have the black front door. For the trim, how about pulling out the grout color with Edgecomb Gray HC-173? Use that for door trim, fascia, window trim, and gutters.

For the garage and side door, consider a tan that coordinates with your roof. That will blend those two doors and let the black front door take center stage. (See Lenox Tan HC-44 — Ben Moore). However, if you actually use the side door for guests and never open the front door, then paint the side door black too. Edgecomb Gray will trim it out. If you want to blend the downspout better, use the Lenox Tan for that.

The dormers can stand out by using the trim color for them. That way, the dormers will pop out of the roof.

Thanks! I like the idea of wrought iron hardware, and matching the grout. I do use the side door, almost exclusively. If I paint it black, and the trim in Edgecomb Gray, what about the garage door? I’m not crazy about tan, but found a taupe that will blend with the lighter grey, and coordinates with the roof. Trim, fascia, gutters and dormers Edgecomb Gray/ garage door, and downspouts a slightly darker taupe?

Hi again Barbara!
Well, our home is just about done and we really like the paint color! thank you for encouraging us to stick it out! We did choose a different inlay color afterall (its a very dark brown from Sherwin Williams).

Anyway, now that the exterior of our home is as done (I need to take pics when it stops snowing!) as it is going to get until Spring, I am trying to finish up my kitchen project. What I am wondering is if you have a go to white that you recommend for kitchen cabinets. I would like the cabinets and walls to be white and would actually love suggestions for both! Currently our window trim in our home is BM White Dove.

The cabinets are shutter style and we have purchased oil rubbed bronzed pulls and knobs from Rejuvenation. We will have a gray glass subway style tile for the stove and sink blacksplash. The gray tile is interesting. It is by Villi and depending on the light it looks gray or even gray/brown. Here is a link http://www.villiglasusa.com/en/glasstiles_glossy.htm to the tile. Anyway, I will send some pics to your email so you can see the kitchen!

Hey Barbara, I just discovered your site and I really like the advice you give! My husband and I really need your help! We’ve kind of jumped off cliff in a leap of faith, I’m 22 and my husband is 21, and we went straight from dorm rooms to a house, which is terrifying! I’m an art major focused in stained and blown glass (which I think might be skewing my color perception some, I have trouble remembering that a house is not a window sometimes) and my husband is working on a Master’s degree in Computer Engineering. Our taste is heavily influenced by Indian and Asian art, which I guess our color choices show (think saffron, curry, and peacocks). We’ve just finished putting down hardwood bamboo floors (by ourselves, but it actually looks pretty good) and now we’re looking at paint. We both love very bright, bold colors, and we’ve chosen a very pretty coral/red for the living room (which is the biggest room in the house) and I’ve found a pretty saffron orange for the dining room and a yellow for the kitchen that all go together well. I’m worried though, that it’s going to seem too busy. Our home is not huge, 1200 sq ft and 3 BR 2 Bath, and while the living room is by far the biggest room in the house, the kitchen and dining room are each about half it’s size. All three are open to each other through big arched openings, but are still definately separate. What do you recommend for those three rooms? And would it be too crazy of a transition to move from orange dining room into a peacock blue master bedroom? Or from the red living room into an emerald guest room or a jewel tone purple office? I’m afraid I’m getting so excited about the decorating that I’m getting color drunk. There’s just so many choices, and it’s so hard to keep the flow going. Help!

Again, I would like to publically say here thank you for helping me choose color as we paint our entire house! You have an amazing talent! The exterior looks great and now our living room, dining room and family room looks amazing! We are just putting the finishing touches on these rooms and I plan on putting up before and after photo links on your blog.

As you can probably tell, I am addicted to your blog and am excited to hear your suggestions for our master bedroom. Since we are in the “Painting mode” we are tackling the paint for this room next. Other than the few pieces of furniture and the bedspread, it really is a blank canvas. What do you suggest? As you know I tend to lean towards warm colors and love the look of white moulding with color. I am looking for suggestions for an overal color scheme (wall and trim), furniture placements (color) and any other suggestions you may have. We plan on including a few overstuffed chairs in the room or a loveseat and artwork once we get an idea of the color palette.
I look forward to hearing your suggestions!

Here are a couple of options. Since you already have dark espresso furniture, I would eliminate any dark wall colors since you’ll need contrast behind each furniture piece. So with that in mind, look at both Mesquite 501 and Greenmount Silk HC-3. The Mesquite is a soft green slightly darker than your duvet but it’s a fabulous color behind dark wood. Very earthy and makes you feel like you’re sleeping in a treehouse. The Greenmount Silk is a light yellow with a green undertone (very tasteful, though, — it’s an historical color!). That gives you a similar look to what you have now, which is fine, but allows you to use the Mesquite over in the adjoining bathroom, bringing the green of the bed linens into that area.

Then you can bring in the warm accents in your artwork and other furniture. You might try putting the bed between the windows (feng shui — bed will face the door) and the large armoire over where the bed is now using the height of the armoire to correspond with the highest point of the ceiling. Then bring the other dresser over to the wall to the left of the door as you enter the room. The rest of the space is then open for adding a couple of big upholstered chairs and a standing lamp for reading.

My home is a French Countryside Colonial. The roof is the GAF Woodland shingles in Woodberry Brown (very dark brown and black). I am thinking of painting it Benjamin Moore Davenport Tan (HC-76) or Rustic Taupe (999) with white trim and mahogany door and mahogany shutters. Does this color combo work together? If not, do you have suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Hi Barbara, we’re struggling with colors for our home. We purchased our roof about a year ago and were surprised by how much it contrasted with the brick. Wanted a more orange roof color, but it’s dark red/brown and black — called Burnt Sienna (but more black, esp in the shade). House is yellow brick with white trim, and we recently painted our side door and double front doors with Behr Grasshopper Wing Interior/Exterior # 400F-6. We want to bring the roof and yellow brick together more. The green seems to help. We’re wondering if we should paint the garage door this same green color or the trim around it. We’ve left the trim around the other doors white and are open to changing that. We are also open to the idea of getting a new garage door (and front door) since it is out in front and a focal point for the house, but again, the colors. Is there anything about the entry way you can recommend? And, what bushes would look better than the two bushes next to the garage door? Our next door neighbor’s house is a darker green color with orange brick and dark brown trim. The other side is a cream and brick color. What do you think about the color or our cedar siding? We are open to changing that as well. I’ll send an email with a few pictures so you can see what we mean.

Have you considered something like Georgian Brick HC-50 (Ben Moore) for your garage door and front door? (I usually paint the garage door a version of the house color, but since yours is so prominent, it’s okay to feature it with color. (one option anyway).

I like the white trim as is.

The green door is fine, but you already have a lot of greenery and you can pull the roof color into the scheme a little easier if you use that red/brown down on the doors. See what you think of that idea anyway.

As for the landscaping, I don’t mind the big bushes by the garage but they’re a bit imposing. Shame to pull them out, but I would prefer more of a perennial bush there — like a white hydrangea, perhaps — since the brick wall provides enough of a barrier to the front entry. Softening that with perennials and annuals (anything but yellow) will help.

I just mentioned “anything but yellow” — since your brick is a light creamy yellow, the bright yellow landscaping in front kind of makes the brick look faded. I would pull the yellow out and keep all the reds/greens/oranges with maybe pops of purple. But no bright yellow.

For any additional wood siding, you might consider a medium taupe with a green undertone. Like Briarwood (Ben Moore exterior). It’s a neutral that goes well with your brick color and roof.

We are wanting advice on the exterior of our home. We are looking at replacing the roof, painting all of the trim, and upgrading the wood siding on the front to a cedar shake look that is a composite material (it can be painted or comes in different colors). We are also looking at upgrading the porch and would like to add curb appeal to the house.
First off, I would like advice about colors: Shutters, roof, trim, etc. The current windows will stay and are white. We are fairly traditional, but nothing is really off the table. So…
1. What roof color do you suggest? Currently it is a dark charcoal.
2. What trim color do you suggest? Currently it is cream.
3. What shutter color do you suggest? Currently it is ugly brown.
4. Should we get a stained front door or painted?

My husband wants to update the porch. He is planning to box in the columns and paint them or stain them. We can add railings to the porch or not. Do you think we should box in the columns? and do you think we should get rid of the dental molding? What do you think of staining the columns? Would that look good or should we keep it traditional? We really love craftman style, but I don’t want to do something that won’t look good with the house. If we stain, what color should we do the gable trim over the porch and how do we tie it all in.
That leads to another question…If we paint the columns should the column color be the same as the trim. My husband was thinking of painting the columns white, but I don’t want the trim white.

Speaking of trim color. I do not like the cream (too yellow), but I don’t want stark white either…your suggestion?

Also, should the garage doors be the trim color or shutter color?

Finally, front door…My husband wants to update the trim around the door and get a new front door. What do you suggest?

Just as a final note, we do love the craftman style, if it would work, I would love to move towards that. This is probably the only time we will be able to do such a change. Here is a link to a brick remodel that was changed to craftman style.www.taylormadeplans.com scroll down, it is the first before adn after pic.

Also sending a email with pictures of our house to you! Thanks, any help would be greatly appreciated! Christy

To make your house look bigger, I suggest a roof color that coordinates (instead of contrasts) with your brick. Take a look at Certainteed’s Heather Blend. Then for the gable/siding color, you can go warm — Ben Moore’s Woodstock Tan HC-20 — or cool — Briarwood (exterior). (A dark charcoal roof does look good on your house because of the dark bricks so that’s still an option for you.)

For trim color, look at something like Early Morning Mist 1528 or another off-white. (I agree — no toothpaste whites).

I like the idea of boxing the front columns. Yes, they should be the same color as the trim. But you should definitely smooth out the mouldings to more Craftsman style. No dentil mouldings. Too colonial.

The railing would be nice but not necessary for the style of the house.

As for shutters, Craftsman style homes often go without them, but they do have beefed up window trim. So you can either add trim to your windows and leave the shutters off or keep them. The current color will work — and you can keep the black metal for lighting, etc. That will tie the shutters into the house.

For the front door, you’ll need a Craftsman style either wood or painted. (I wish we didn’t need storm doors — they really do interfere with the look but I know they’re energy efficient.) Natural wood is always preferable with Craftsman style because it’s all about craftsmanship. Anyway you can show that off, the better.

Hello Barbara. I am looking for some advice on updating my kitchen. I have sent you pictures via e-mail. I am willing to change the countertops to granite/solid surface but am unsure of the color/pattern. I would also like your thoughts on the backsplash. Do you think painting the cupboards/island would make a big difference, and if so, what color? Ideally I would like to leave them alone and pick the countertop/backsplash to go with them. Any advice you can give me regarding updating my kitchen would be very much appreciated! Thank you.

I assume you’re planning to stay in the house, right? These updates are for you and your family to enjoy? The reason I ask that is that I make different suggestions (sometimes) when you’re preparing to sell the house. But I’ll assume you want to avoid spending on a brand new kitchen but just want to make it look more updated.

With that in mind, I do like the color of your backsplash, but the tiles are a bit dated. You might consider replacing them with glass subway tiles (the shape is traditional but the material is contemporary –a nice mix). Look at khaki to go with your window treatment.
Here’s a link:http://www.amazon.com/Supreme-Glass-Tiles-glass-subway/dp/B004ZVC81E

Then for the countertop, consider Santa Cecilia granite — a moderately priced, versatile variety that will pull all your colors together into a very pretty kitchen.

No real need to paint the cabinets or even replace the hardware since they both go with the rest of your decor.

I live in a red/black brick home my window are white trim with black shutters and I have a white full glass storm door and I am changing my front door I didn’t know whether to get a white or black front door. Any suggestions

Usually when you have white windows already, we match the storm door to that. A little bit of black goes a long way, even on a house, so the black shutters will stand out as will any black metal lighting/mailbox.

Hi Barbara, We have a white house that we are going to trim in barn red with rustic stars and the front porch rails are currently painted beige. We are wondering what color would look best to paint the rails? We also have a wrought iron trellis that we were wondering what color to paint its connected to the porch. Thanks, Laura

Hi Barbara
I am so glad I found your blog. I am at my wits end trying to figure out what to do with my ugly duckling of a house. I am sending some pictures to your email bmeglis@yahoo.com of my house and ideas I have on what I would like to do to it. I apologize that this post is going to be so long, we need a lot of help and I’m sure I will be needing multiple consultations.
I know it’s hard to tell from the picture, the siding is wood that is rotting in some places and has been attacked by carpenter bees and woodpeckers. As much as I love the look of wood siding, I have decided to replace the siding with James Hardie fiber cement siding. In an effort to break up the very plain flat front of the house I was thinking of installing vertical board and batten along the bottom half of the house and horizontal lap siding on the top half with some kind of trim board separating the two types of siding. I realize this isn’t a color question but I’m really hoping you can help me with this. It’s sounding like a good idea to me but I just can’t quit envision how that’s going to look. I’m also thinking of adding a small covered front porch in the center of the house. The door is off center but I would want the porch centered. On the top of the front door I want to add a transom window with bullseye glass and I definitely want some kind of wide decorative trim around the front door. Also around the windows I want wide trim and possibly shutters. I can add the shutters later but I need to make a decision on the trim before the siding goes up.
Well my post wasn’t as long as I thought it was going to be. I’ll save my colors questions for the next time. I hope you can help me with my ugly duckling.

Since your house appears to have only two windows upstairs (?), you have plenty of room for a large gabled porch on the front. I would focus your money on that. You can add stone pillars, board-and-batten siding in the gable area and another window next to the door (I like the pencil drawing!). That will become a very prominent focal point on your house and will give you the interest that you’re looking for. You really do not need to vary the siding direction on the rest of the house. It might even become TOO busy if you do that. Look at porch options on Houzz.com for more ideas, but I think you’re already off to a great start. And yes to the wider window/door trim and the transom. But the bullseye glass is definitely Colonial (simple house style). You might want to more more toward Arts and Crafts with simple square transom windows, lots of wide trim and added stonework on the porch columns.

My house has mustard vinyl siding and black shutter. … I brought a malbury screen door for my front my door is white so is the trim…..what color should I paint my house and shutter and should I leave the door white and the trim please advise.
Thanks
Charlene benton

Hi! My question is about hardware/ paint color/Door color to look look best with a Copper roof…. This is going to be on a small portable lake house…. I was thinking white on the outside… Pottery barn looking interior…. Hardware gets me everytime😁 thanks so much! Amanda

Referencing above post… Roof is not on, so it doesn’t have to be copper, but does have to be some type of tin…. Also a front door style(steel) that would look best…. Most ready made ones are not really appealing to me, and I can’t spend a fortune on one, don’t know whether to go with a solid door or one with glass in it?

You might consider Bronze for your roof color. It blends well with the surroundings, contrasts nicely with any siding color, and does not stick out like a sore thumb. Then you can use colors for your accents: Adirondack chairs, planters, and other accessories.

As for hardware, try Oil-Rubbed Bronze. Again for contrast and a nice weathered look to your lake home.

I’ve emailed a couple pictures of my sister’s house. She is keeping the existing brickface but she needs help with the siding color, trim color, door color (and decorative trim above door), as well as roof color.

Siding: The siding will be replaced with James Hardie lap siding with 7″ exposure. She does like the current house color (yellow) because it is different and no one else has it in the neighborhood. (Her neighbor to the left has white house w/ raspberry-colored trim and her neighbor to the right has a light beige house with black trim.) From looking at the James Hardie website, it looks like her options are Woodland Cream, Harris Cream, or even Sail Cloth. Which would you go with to best coordinate with her brick? Is there another color that she should be considering?

Roof: She also needs to put up a new roof and I believe she will be limited to the Certainteed Pro Line of shingles. What color would work best?

Trim and Door: Although the house currently does not have shutters, she wants to put some up. What color would you suggest? She is also replacing the front door and sidelights since she has significant rot. Would you paint the door the same color as the trim? Would it look silly if she had a stained wood door? And she also has a colonial-style decorative trim piece above her door that she wants to keep. Should this match the trim color and/or door color?

I suggest the Woodland Cream since she likes the yellow — it’s about the same as what she has now on the house — it’s fine, especially since the neighbors already have beige and white.

For the trim, I suggest Arctic White since she wants to highlight the decorative moulding around the door. So all trim would be white — windows, fascia/soffits, and door trim. Then the front door can be yellow again — since there is already a lot of color, I would not introduce another color for the front door.

As for shutters, black always works on a house with many colors. And the same for the roof — Landmark’s Max Def Charcoal Black. It will contrast nicely with both brick and yellow siding. And the black shutters will pull the whole look together.

Hi Barbara,
We are in the process of picking out plantation shutters for the entire house. Our problem is that the outside molding trim and gutters are all a dark brown and the inside is a cream beige molding. Also our cabinetry and window trims are different throughout the inside of our house.
The master closet has mahogany cabinetry throughout with the window molding a cream beige. Our master bathroom has cream beige window molding with similar color cabinetry throughout, which also has a brown glazed hue. The study has hardwood floors and the window molding and cabinetry are an olive green, which is also glazed with the brown hue. The dining room, laundry room, powder bathroom, and Butler’s pantry all have the same cream beige molding and cabinetry, which is also glazed with that brown hue. All of these rooms and windows face the front of the house.
The living room has dark mahogany cabinetry, a lighter shaded hardwood floor, and the window molding is the same dark mahogany as the cabinetry. The living room also has a vaulted ceiling with darker stained arched beams and mahogany balconies. My master bedroom, workout room, guest bedroom, guest bathroom and kitchen all have the cream beige molding and the similar cabinetry with the brown glazed hue. I have two islands in my kitchen. One with the mahogany and the other with the cream-beige color with the glazed brown hue. The kitchen extends into a formal sitting area which also has the cream beige molding. These rooms all face the back of the house & patio. The entire upstairs has the same cream base molding and the cream beige cabinetry with the brown glazed hue.
I have no idea what color plantation blinds to get for the inside of the house?……help!

Hi,
I just happened to find this website and am hoping to get some answers to some questions I’ve been struggling with for a few weeks. We just built a new house and are getting ready to paint and do the trim. My cabinets were custom made and are a medium stain color with a black distressed island. My furniture will consist of a caramel colored couch and chocolate colored chairs. My windows are vinyl and are a almond/beige color. I really wanted white, but we really needed that color to go with the outside of our house, so that is what we had to go with on the inside. I’m not sure exactly what I will paint the walls, it will be a light neutral color, the family room, kitchen and dining room are all open. It’s an open concept area, so it needs to be all one color. I think I want to stain the window trim and baseboard a color to match the kitchen cabinets, but I’m worried how it will look around the vinyl windows, plus I have a metal decorative front door, metal garage door, and metal glass paned patio doors in this area that will also need to be painted and have no idea what color to paint these doors and am wondering what the stained trim will look like around those doors. I’m thinking they also need a neutral color as well, just have no idea what color. My husband is priming the walls now and wants to start painting soon. I’m feeling overwhelmed, I have so many other things for the house I still have to pick out!! Any suggestions you can send my way would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you so my much.

Thank you for your post. It sounds like you have quite a project going. I would be happy to help you but will need to see photos. You can attach a photo album to the Comment Box here or send some photos to my email: bmeglis@yahoo.com and I will take a look. I do charge a small fee for my services ($25/area or question — see the PayPal button on the blog Home Page) but you will get the equivalent of a home consultation.

Dear Barbara, I have been looking at so many color combinations for siding/trim/gutters/roof that I am now actually more confused and unsure of what to pick than before 🙂 My house is a quad level with a very flat (dark brown) roof and already came with the dark brown gutters when I purchased it. I did paint it the green color two years ago, but would like to have new siding (any particular style?) added with a new roof, gutters, soffits and facia as well as trim to give it a new modern look. I am also e-mailing you pictures of my house and look forward to your suggestions!

Hello! Hoping you can help! We have a cape cod style home that is BM alexandria beige. (Medium taupe) Shutters and inside door are Bleeker beige. (Light beige) Trim is linen white. (Off white). Would you order a white storm door or almond? Thanks for the advice!
Tracy

You didn’t mention your window color, but based on the colors you mentioned, I would go with an almond storm door. You don’t want it to pop off the front of the house and it might if it’s white since your trim is linen.

Hi, this is such a helpful site! I have a quick question myself about our newly purchased ranch 80s home.
It has a very low roof pitch that comes down to the tops of the windows. Black/dark Maroon blend on roof. Top half of the house is siding, white. White garage doors and front door. Reddish Terra cotta brick with some blends of black and light camel in it. A stoop type entrance. Not sure if I can get my pic to upload. But I really need your advice on shutters, front door and garage doors. Also siding color. The shutters are a but maroon also. It’s a nice long home. And I love it! But it’s not got that wow factor.
Help!!!! Sincerely Sherry

Hi! I am looking for help!! I have been struggling with what to paint our living room. We have dark furniture (lots of antiques etc). I’m struggling to pull it all together. One color? Two? And what color(s)? It’s so overwhelming! Ha! Ha! Problem number two is that the walls are plaster and curve to the ceiling. I would be glad to send you pictures. Please help! 🙂 🙂 Thank you!

A couple of ideas: First, you can paint the wall color right up onto the ceiling if it’s light enough. You will lose some reflective surface (white is the best for reflecting light back into the room) but it shouldn’t be a big deal. One color option is Benjamin Moore’s Papaya (957). I think you will absolutely love it with your antiques and the greens and other earth tones in your living room.

The second option is to install (or have installed) a crown moulding around the edge of the room to eliminate the curve of the wall up onto the ceiling. A good carpenter/handyperson will be able to do that for you. That way, you can use trim color (white or whatever your window trim color is) and white for the ceiling for light purposes. Same wall color though. I think it will be perfect.

Hope that helps. And thank you again for your patience. Vacations always seem to leave me behind at the end.

Hi Barbara,
(This is a copy of the email I sent in reply to you acknowledgement of payment. The email has all the pictures attached – I hope…)
You helped me with some outdoor trim and siding color a couple of months ago and it turned out great. Now I want to get a color for my front door. I am going to attach a picture of my “inspiration” house (which I have recently found out is a somewhat famous house – guess I have good taste:). It has a beautiful bright red door that I really like, but I know I would need the right shade of red to go with my brick. I like that the inspiration door is bright. My front door is very tight and under the shade of trees so it is certainly needs some pop to stand out. I also have a glass storm door that I want to paint. Currently, it is white and quite an eyesore.
My house is red brick, but not the same color as the inspiration house. The roof is Owens Corning Chateau Green. Trim is Sherwin Williams Roycroft Bottle Green. Siding is Sherwin Williams Studio Blue Green. I have access to Sherwin Williams, Benjamin Moore, Lowe’s, Home Depot and PGP (?).
Should I paint the storm door the same color as the door? I think I would like that. There is very little trim around the door – it is really in there tight.
I love the colors you picked for my trim and siding. I have received many compliments and I gave you all the credit. Can’t wait for recommendations for the door/storm door.

You might consider black for your storm door. I probably would NOT paint it the actual door color. The material (metal vs wood) is different and the color will be slightly off. Not a good thing. Black will tie in the lighting metal and simply frame the door. The black will not be very visible.

For the door itself, have a look at Georgian Brick HC-50. It goes beautifully with your brick.

Needing so ideas on what bold color to paint my front door…my front porch is called red barn.My house is baige with hunter green shutters… So could u help me with colors that would look good for my front door…current color is tree frog….thanks

Hello
Just stumbled on your site! Lots of Q/A.
My question relates to painting an Accent Wall in DR/LR Area. Accent wall has a grey Fireplace. Large room combining two areas.
Primary color is Standish White. One large 4Pane Window and one smaller 2 Pane Window.front and side,
Wondering if Sandy Brown would complement the other color, in a large room with hardwood flooring, and lots of color in the furniture ( tans/ beiges/ greens/ rose/ Backgrounder d color is more soft yellow/ Beige).
2). For the adjoining Kitchen, which opens from the dining room DR end of the larger space, what makes for a complementary Colorfor Kitchen with Espresso cabinetry,white/ soft grey countertops, and white/ light greys in the Ceremic flooring.
Appreciate your feedback.
Than you kindly
M

Thank you so much for your efficient reply.
We already started with the Kitchen earlier this morning. Painted using ManhattenTan. HC81 . I probably should have waited. However, So far it looks good. Seems to flow, particularly as there are two white Pillars separating the opened room spaces.
I wanted to let you know that last month we painted the Accent Wall AF 375 and hubby doesn’t like it. It seems too dark and not warm or cozy enough.
So I’m hesitant to try a Green color again.
Any other suggestions for the LR/ DR Accent Wall, now that the Kitchen walls ( not a lot of wall space ) is in the Process of being Painted.
Thank you for easing my mind with your helpfulness.
Looking forward to your reply.
All the Best

Hi MM,
I would love to help you with an accent color for the living room, but a photo of the room and the fabrics in it would be extremely helpful at this point. Your other paint selections are fine. You can send a photo or two to my email address:

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Everything came together perfectly, and I'm thrilled with the result! The Knoxville Gray is a fascinating color and looks subtly different as the light changes. Against a background of snow it's truly beautiful.

Again, thanks so much for your help!

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Rochester, NY

Showed [the roofer] the paint chip next to the brick and shingles and he said WOW!!! That is going to look really good!!!! I told him yes we owe this to our online color coach!!!!!! I am so happy!!!!

Your suggestions were most helpful. We were stuck and you got us back on track!!!! THANK YOU!!!!

BB
Ore City, TX

Thank you, Barbara! My house looked beautiful and eye-catching!!! I appreciate all you did to help it sell so quickly.

Sincerely,
SL
Acton, MA

Hi Barbara. FYI -- I wanted to give you feedback that we had a Pewterwood roof put up based on your recommendation and it looks great. Well worth the $25 opinion!